


The Gorgon and the Dog Demon

by C_Storm



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:40:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 19
Words: 57,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23993908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/C_Storm/pseuds/C_Storm
Summary: AU Kagome is the daughter of the Gorgon Medusa, and is hiding out in Japan. She happens to meet a sexy hanyou who is in disguised as a human.
Relationships: Higurashi Kagome/InuYasha, Miroku/Sango (InuYasha)
Comments: 107
Kudos: 55





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A/N I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters portrayed herein.

The subway car was loud to her ears. She had read a few centuries ago that when one was lacking in one sense their other senses tended to strengthen to adapt. But it wasn’t like she couldn’t see at all. What appeared to be soft onyx waves of hair gently swished around her head. In her reality it wasn’t hair at all. She could see the world through the eyes of the snakes that sprung from her head. She was very fortunate she had found that witch almost 2 millennia ago, who helped her with this disguise spell. She never would’ve survived this long otherwise, whether she was an immortal or not.

She could feel eyes on her, but tried so hard to ignore the feeling. It put her on edge, her blue eyes looked ahead not seeing anything, as her mind opened the snakes’ eyes and she glanced around to find the culprit. Was she in danger again? She had no way to defend herself on a subway car, besides there were far too many people here to do what she would need to do. The snakes near her right shoulder zoned in on a tall muscular man with long brown hair in a ponytail. His eyes were a deep, cerulean blue and were looking her up and down as if she were a steak placed in front of a starving man.

She knew her stop was at least 3 more away, but it seemed safer to be walking or to wait for the next train. Her snakes looked him up and down in a much more predatory manner, she had to find a way to distract him while she left the train at the next station. He was dressed in shorts, a tight fitting tank top, and had a sweat band on his brow. Then she spotted her opportunity. He had a water bottle on his hip. She turned towards the window and smiled to herself. The train began to slow for the next stop and she inched her way towards the door.

Unfortunately, it seemed as though he planned on following her here too. She closed her eyes and focused on the water bottle on his left hip. She reached her mind towards the water in it and felt the thunderstorm of power within her. She was only a step or so away from the door when the train stopped and his water bottle burst open and poured all over his shorts. His voice was loud and angry “What the hell? Aw Geez!” as she stepped off the train and the door closed behind her. She stepped away from the train and made a show of clicking her white cane acting like she couldn’t see the world around her.

After walking on the street for a block or so she noticed an even set of footsteps keeping perfect speed with her a little ways behind her. She stepped a bit faster, trying not to be noticeable and the steps sped up in time. Her heart sank, ‘what is it with people today? Just because I’m attractive, doesn’t mean I want to be gawked at, or followed.’ She focused through the snakes' eyes again and was surprised to recognize the person following her. She had a high ponytail of deep brown hair, and pink eyeshadow. Her coworker and the closest thing to a friend Kagome allowed herself in this world. Was Sango following her home? She did tend to worry about her an awful lot. Of course it’s not like Kagome could tell her she’d been taking care of herself for well over 2100 years. Since that self acclaimed “hero” Perseus killed her mother, and of course he was helped by the one who cursed her mother in the first place. She continued walking towards her apartment, it wasn’t extremely far, and up until her arrival in Japan a few months ago she had walked almost everywhere. The subway system did make things easier, but she missed the quiet of her home in Greece.

After she got to the corner and pushed the crosswalk button she called behind her, “Sango, why don’t you walk up here with me? Do I really wanna know why you’re stalking me?”

“How did you even know I was there? I was keeping my distance perfectly. Are you sure you’re blind?”

If not for the grin she could see on her friend’s face she would have been nervous, but she smiled softly at her words tired of the lies she’d been telling for centuries. “Nope, sorry. My eyes don’t work at all.” The words came easily, and at least it wasn’t a complete lie, her eyes were completely non-functioning. Ever since she blinded herself 2300 years ago. It seemed like a no brainer once she found out she could harness her snakes' vision. Her eyes were the reason she had remained hidden for more than 200 years.

The crosswalk dinged and Kagome began walking with Sango keeping an easy pace next to her instead of behind. “I saw you get off the subway at the wrong stop and I was worried you were lost. So I figured I would make sure you got home safely.”

“I had this guy who was staring at me, I felt so uncomfortable I figured I would just walk the last couple blocks. I could feel his eyes on me, like I was a hunk of meat. So here I am. Wanna come up for snacks?”

She can see Sango’s head bob slightly in answer before she remembers who she is talking to and her voice is clear and decisive, “That sounds great, are we still on for the band tonight?”

She can’t hold back the laughter, “Of course, Sango. I’ll meet you at the Jewel at 8. Who’s playing anyway?”

“It’s the same band that we heard a few weeks ago, ‘The Sacred Arrows’-”

“Oh I remember, I could barely pry you off the dance floor. They had some excellent songs. Ah, we’re here. Come on up, I’ll make tea.” She typed in her entry code, and they went upstairs, her apartment was on the 4th floor. It had an open floor plan, which would normally be out of her price range with her newly acquired teaching job, luckily after living for 2100 years she had amassed a decent amount of wealth. She made it a point to keep that part underwraps though, since she didn’t want people to look at her differently, or accidentally get any unwanted attention.

Sango was always amazed at the gorgeous state of her friend’s apartment, they worked together as teachers at the local public school, and they definitely didn’t make much money, but she had some beautiful furniture and decor. She assumed Kagome had brought most of it from Greece with her, and it had been in her family for a while. A lot of the stuff looked like antiques, beautiful vases that portrayed ancient battles, huge statues, and columns. It was completely obvious that Kagome loved history, is it any wonder she became a history teacher.

Kagome brewed a pot of tea and brought out some pastries she had purchased from a local bakery the day prior. She turned on the radio and sat next to Sango on the sofa. As they chatted away about the classes and everything else they had planned for the following week. Kagome liked to bounce lecture ideas off of her dear friend, as sometimes it was hard to keep up with the times when she was over 2 millennia old.

After an hour or so of chatting Sango went home to finish up a few things and get ready, and Kagome took a nice hot shower. Using her snakes' eyes she picked out a lovely darker green dress. She arranged the appearance of her hair so that it looked like most of it was up in a high bun but there were loose waves and curls hanging around her ears. Her snakes stayed close to the top of her head easily enough. After making sure her makeup was flawless, she grabbed a small purse and went to catch the train.

As she sat on a seat near the door she felt eyes on her again, and she couldn’t help but dread the idea that it was somehow the same man as earlier. She focused through her snakes and spotted what could only be described as a present day Adonis. She thought back to the amazing sculptures of that man for a brief instant and felt her cheeks flush. But looking back at this tall drink of water she knew this man was a God in his own right. His hair was long and glistened silver, his eyes were a burning gold, and she could see through the spell he was using that there were two triangular ears atop his head. She immediately looked away and hoped he couldn’t see through her spell as well as she could his. Was that why he was staring at her? Oh Hades! Was she going to have to leave Japan?

She could feel her heart beating a rapid rhythm in her chest and she searched around herself to see if there was some way to distract him like she had earlier with the other man. But unfortunately, he carried no water bottle, and he was dressed in what looked like a rather nice set of dress pants and a deep red button up shirt. She could see where it outlined his muscles and for an instant she forgot about her current dilemma as she imagined running her hands across that tight chest.

Her blush returned as the reality set into her. Obviously she was ridiculously attracted to him, and he was still staring at her, so the likelihood of him knowing her secret was rising. She was going to have to get off the train immediately even if it wasn’t her stop. She guessed she could walk to The Jewel, but judging by how long she’d been on the train it was still several blocks. Maybe he would get off at the next stop.

As soon as that thought popped in her head the voice over the loudspeaker announced the stop. It was still 2 before the one she needed but several people got up and left. As the seats next to her emptied she chanced a glance at him again and he was moving towards the door. She almost breathed a sigh of relief, until he took the open seat next to her. Holy Hera! Could her luck get any worse?! And by the Gods of Olympus did he smell amazing! Sexy as hell, and he smelled divine? How was this fair to anyone?

As she is sitting there cursing her rotten luck her phone rings. She pulls it out of her purse, and rotates so he can’t see her face. “Hello?” She tried to sound light and bubbly for whoever was on the other line.

Sango’s voice came through but she sounded distressed, “Kagome, please don’t be mad ok? But my friend is gonna join us and he’s bringing a friend. He’s the one who’s been asking me out for a few months and I figured if we’re together then it won’t be so awkward. Please don’t be mad?”

Kagome sighed inwardly then took a deep breath, “Of course not, Sango. We’re still meeting at 8, right? I’m already on the train.”

She could hear the tension disappear from Sango after she answered, “Yeah I’m getting ready to leave, I’ll meet you there. Are you looking fabulous?”

Kagome laughed heartily, “Well Sango, I just wouldn’t know would I? I happen to like the feel of this dress, but I have no idea what it looks like.”

Sango gasped loudly and she could almost feel the facepalm that she performed, “I am so sorry, Kags. I always manage to overlook that. I feel like such an idiot. I guess I shouldn’t try to tell you that Miroku says his friend is a hottie, since that obviously means nothing to you. Maybe he’ll be a good dancer? I mean you’ve got some of the best moves I’ve ever seen.”

Talking to her best friend alleviated all of her worries about the sexy unknown man who she thought was looking at her, maybe he had been looking at the seat and was hoping to sit down. But she could still feel him side-eyeing her. He didn’t matter. “I don’t know about all of that, Sango. But I will do my best. It’ll be ok though. So long as you don’t abandon me with some stranger, because I will leave and go home. Got it?” She laughed afterwards to make sure Sango knew she was being honest but not angry yet.

“I promise I won’t abandon you for more than one song at a given time, and I owe you a dance too. So we’ll abandon him at least once or twice.” Her laughter immediately made Kagome smile. “Alright, Kags. I have to finish getting ready. See you in a few minutes.”

Kagome hung up, and put her phone back in her purse. She turned back around in time for the loudspeaker to go off stating the next stop. One more to go, and she would be able to leave the Sexy man. She was hoping so hard that he didn’t get off with her, but she figured her luck was definitely not good, so he would more than likely get off at the same stop.

She began humming quietly to distract herself. The first song that came to mind was a very old song she remembered from when she was a child. Several minutes went by, and she was going stir crazy. Sexy man had finally stopped staring at her, but she could see his ears still trained on her. He seemed to have a slight smirk on his face ever since she had answered the phone, which she tried to ignore. He was staring at his phone and scrolling through some sort of social media.

~~~~~  
Inuyasha is standing on the subway, he can’t believe he let his ass of a friend convince him to go on a blind date. “Yash come on, this woman is beyond gorgeous, and I’ve been asking her out for what seems like months. Please do not be the biggest cock block in all of history. You don’t have to do anything just come to the club drink a bit and eat dinner. Sango did say her friend was gorgeous if that helps.” 

The sigh left him in a rush, “Fucking fine! But you can’t ask for another favor for at least 2 months. You still owe me from last time. Now where are we going?”

Now he was standing in the subway, worrying about his disguise. He knew to others his hair should appear long and black and his dog ears were nonexistent, he had been told he looked like a gang member with his long hair but he liked it. Besides no one could see the real color so at least he blended in mostly. As he was waiting to get off at the stop for the club he noticed this amazingly beautiful woman sitting near the door, she had long wavy hair, that was a deep onyx, and her eyes were an ocean blue. He couldn’t pull his eyes off of her. Until he heard her gasp and he immediately looked away. But she hadn’t actually looked at him. Why had she gasped? 

Then the pa system blared in his ears, announcing the next stop and when he looks back he sees the most fetching shade of red dusting her cheeks and everything in him wants to see how far down that blush goes. He pulls his eyes away again and watches several people leave, including the person who was sitting next to this gorgeous specimen. He walks over and sits next to her. He can smell her perfume, which has a light vanilla scent to it, but oddly enough she has a hint of reptile or something. Maybe she works in the Tokyo zoo? But it smells so fresh, unless she’s a snake youkai in disguise. He sniffs again, and there is definitely a strong scent of snakes around her. But she smelled human, so at the very least she was a hanyou. But they were so incredibly rare, how could she have survived without him finding her sooner?

He is thinking about asking her a question when her phone begins to ring. She pulls it out and turns away, but not before he sees a pretty face and a name Sango pop up on her screen. Hmm, could this be the ‘gorgeous’ blind date? No way in hell was he that lucky!

“Hello?”Her voice was beautiful, and he couldn’t explain the things it made him feel at that moment. 

He could hear her friend’s response through the speaker and she sounded nervous, “Kagome, please don’t be mad ok? But my friend is gonna join us and he’s bringing a friend. He’s the one who’s been asking me out for a few months and I figured if we’re together then it won’t be so awkward. Please don’t be mad?”

Inuyasha was ready to jump for joy, this stunning creature really was his blind date! Kagome sighed inwardly then took a deep breath, “Of course not, Sango. We’re still meeting at 8, right? I’m already on the train.”

Her friend Sango answered much less tense, “Yeah I’m getting ready to leave, I’ll meet you there. Are you looking fabulous?”

The bombshell, Kagome, laughed beautifully, “Well Sango, I just wouldn’t know would I? I happen to like the feel of this dress, but I have no idea what it looks like.”

Inuyasha pulled his smartphone out and began scrolling so not to appear to be such a creeper, but he heard Sango gasp loudly before she continued, “I am so sorry, Kags. I always manage to overlook that. I feel like such an idiot. I guess I shouldn’t try to tell you that Miroku says his friend is a hottie, since that obviously means nothing to you. Maybe he’ll be a good dancer? I mean you’ve got some of the best moves I’ve ever seen.” With the word hottie he couldn’t help but smirk.

“I don’t know about all of that, Sango. But I will do my best. It’ll be ok though. So long as you don’t abandon me with some stranger, because I will leave and go home. Got it?” She laughed afterwards to make sure Sango knew she was being honest but not angry yet.

Sango responded quickly as if to alleviate any fear, “I promise I won’t abandon you for more than one song at a given time, and I owe you a dance too. So we’ll abandon him at least once or twice. Alright, Kags. I have to finish getting ready. See you in a few minutes.”

He pretended to scroll through his social media, but couldn’t stop focusing on her, even as she turned back to face forward. Maybe this would be a good night after all.

~~~~~

After what felt like an hour which was clearly only 5 or 10 minutes, her stop was announced. She made it a point to unfold her white cane with its red tip and stand up ready to exit when the train stopped. She was the first to exit, and she could see him stand up after her. He allowed her to exit and seemed to wait a few seconds before he exited. She walked at a steady pace hoping to arrive to the club quickly and get a table for 4. She knew even though Sango lived only a few blocks away, she would be late. She was always late, except for work.

She entered quietly and smiled at the host even though it looked as if she couldn’t see anything. “Hi, is there a reservation for 4 under Sango Houko?” 

She saw the man nod then he dumbly stared at her in embarrassment, “Yes Miss. Please follow me. Oh do you need me to guide you?” 

She couldn’t help but smile, “Thank you, but I think I can follow the sound of your footsteps. Please don’t go too fast though, or I may lose you.” He nodded again, then began walking. She followed him easily enough to a nice table and he told her the server would be there shortly to get her drink order.

The music playing was pretty and calm, and she was just relaxing to the sound when she saw the Sexy man enter the door. She wanted to bash her head against the table, but that would definitely give her away, so she had better not do that. She fixed a blank stare looking straight ahead and pretended not to see him or anything else for that matter. He remained at the front, but she could see him clearly staring at her again. Until someone else walked in and greeted him. He turned away to speak to the newcomer, and her heart dropped. In walked her best friend Sango and another man. They were speaking to the Sexy man.

They approached the table together, and Kagome stays stock still so not to give herself away. Sango’s voice is crystal clear, “Kagome, this is my friend Miroku.”

Miroku’s voice is suave and she could see why Sango was attracted to him, “It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Kagome.” He even made a little bow, despite the fact that he thought she was blind, which definitely impressed Kagome with his manners.

“And this is his friend Yash.”

Sexy man’s gruff voice thrilled her in ways she was not ready to think about right now, “Yeah, hi. Nice to meet you.”

Kagome bowed at the table to both of them, “It is a pleasure to meet both of you. I’m so glad you could join us.”

Sango sat on Kagome’s right and Yash sat on her left. Miroku was directly across from her, but his eyes seemed to rest on Sango almost continuously. They ordered food and drinks and made small talk until the opening band finally started playing. In the half hour or so she learned that Miroku went to Sango’s father’s dojo, and that’s where he met the lovely vixen, as he called her. Yash and Miroku have been friends for years, they met in high school. Kagome couldn’t help but wonder if his best friend knew his secret or if she was the only one who could see through his disguise. Unfortunately with that thought came the crushing realization that he may be able to see through hers just as easily. As her anxiety began to ascend, the music began to play and she chanced a glance to Sango and was relieved to see her best friend grinning at her.

“Hey wanna grab the first dance?” 

Kagome grinned in response, “For you, beautiful, absolutely.”

She and Sango laughed as they stood up, and Sango led her to the dance floor. The song had a good beat which was easy to dance to, and Kagome had a lot of practice in her 2000 years of life. It’s amazing how much music has changed, but she uses all the moves she has learned in the last century to leave everyone’s jaws dropping. She has had enough time to train to do anything. So she can play several musical instruments, and has experience in several forms of dancing including ballet, tap dancing, ballroom, jazz, hip hop, and contemporary. It at least gave her an outlet and something to do.

She looks back at the table and sees Sexy Man’s eyes following her around the dance floor. It’s official, if he can see through her disguise her ruse was already up, so she might as well as have fun in the meantime. If her identity is found out, she’ll have to leave the country, so she wants to enjoy her best friend’s complain while she can.

The song finally comes to an end, and her chest is heaving from the exertion. Sango even being as fit as she is, has also broken into a slight sweat and is trying to slow her heart rate with long deep breaths.

“Some day, you’ll have to tell me where you learned to dance. You are definitely amazing.”

Kagome laughs easily, “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you Sango. But maybe one day, I will divulge my secrets.” They wander aimlessly back to the table, Kagome keeps her hand on Sango’s shoulder to keep track of her in the crowd. They got back to the table and Kagome took a long draught from her water glass. Miroku stood up and met Sango before she could sit.

“May I have the next one, please?”

Kagome tried so hard not to notice the deep blush on her friend’s cheeks, but it was painfully obvious, even to the blind woman at the table. Sango nodded silently, as if she didn’t trust herself to speak at that moment, and Miroku pulled her chair out for her to take her seat.

Yash’s voice cut through her hazy thoughts and brought her attention back full force, “So, where did you learn all those moves, it looks like you’ve had a lot of professional training. You seem to know a lot of types of dancing.”

Before Kagome can respond Sango answered him, “Good luck getting that answer, I’ve been asking her that for a long time and she hasn’t even told me yet.”

Kagome can feel her cheeks turn a bright pink, as she send a silent glare to Sango, “Some secrets are best kept hidden. Perhaps one day like on your deathbed I will divulge that information. Until then not on your life. If I told you I’d have to kill you, I’m afraid.”

Sango’s laughter rang clear throughout and MIroku smiled at her as she laughed. It was very endearing the way his eyes seemed to radiate towards the beautiful woman next to him. It seemed so rare and almost out of character for him. Hopefully this one wouldn’t end up destroying her friend, or else she may very well have to enact revenge. Nothing huge, but something definitely that would teach him a lesson.

She happened to look towards Yash and his eyes were still on her, but she noticed he didn't seem to be looking at her “hair” but her eyes, maybe he’d never seen a blind person’s eyes, or perhaps he could see through her spell and could see the wounds she had inflicted so many years ago. She was going to have to figure out what he could see, and if she was in danger, but how could she do that without giving too much away. Finally Miroku seemed to get tired of the silence, “Yash it seems like you’re staring. Do you see something you like?” The question was followed by a loud Oomph and a whoosh of air fluttered across the table. “Sango was no longer blushing but her cheeks were red with her ire. If looks could kill Miroku would at the very least be hospitalized by now.

“Miroku, not everyone is a lecher like you. You brought me here so I could meet her and I’m trying to get to know her, it doesn't mean I’m trying to get into her pants like some people.”

Now it was Kagome’s turn to blush, and she felt her eyes go wide. Their server came over at that exact moment to offer refills, and Kagome asked for another water. After their glasses were filled or replaced Kagome spoke up, “Sango can you help me to the restroom? I don’t think I can weave through all the people by myself.”

Sango immediately stood up and led her to the ladies room where Kagome burst out laughing instead of going in the stall. “Really Sango? This is the guy that you want to date so badly? What could you possibly see in him?”

Sango huffed in response then began to laugh along with her. “He has never been that bad, I think Yash is a bad influence on him or something, since he’s never been there when I’ve spoken to him before. Am I just a magnet for terrible men?” Their laughter continued for a few more moments before they left to go back to the table.

~~~~~

As Yash sat at the table watching the bombshell of a woman walk away behind her friend he felt a sharp kick to his shin, “Man What the hell are you doing? I told you I really like this girl, do not fuck this up for me! If you do so help me I will never be your wingman again.”

At that Yash scoffed, “Who the fuck ever asked you to be my wingman? And I’m sorry you haven’t shown her who you really are yet, but she's gonna figure it out eventually. Wouldn’t you rather she like you for who you are, not who you’re pretending to be? Or are you that hard up for sex that you don’t care? Seriously, make better choices, dipshit.” 

Miroku had the gall to look offended for a minute, “Yash, you don’t understand when I’m with her I am a different person I don’t want to just bang her. I want to be with her. She makes me feel different from everything else I’ve ever felt.”

Yash just sat staring at his friend for a minute, “Damn Miroku, you’ve got it real bad. OK I’ll lay off. It’s hard for me since this is a side I’ve never seen before. By the way, what is the deal with Kagome, was she born blind?”  
Miroku begins to shrug then jerks his chin towards something behind him and he sees their dates returning from the restroom. This time Yash stands up and pulls out Kagome’s chair as Miroku does the same thing for Sango.

They sit for a minute before another song comes on and Sango looks at MIroku, “I believe I promised you a dance.” He stands up and they saunter to the dance floor.

~~~~~

Kagome was sitting in her chair trying to think of what to say to this sexy adonis, and coming up short. In 2000 years she has never been one to flirt or anything like that with men or women. She’s never wanted that part of life, not that it didn't seem wonderful, but she couldn’t take those kinds of risks. She wasn't a virgin per se, but it had been a few hundred years since she had been with a man. It was too great a risk, and birth control didn't work on gods as far as she knew. She was not going to bring another creature into the world to share her curse for eternity. If she had the ability to commit suicide she probably would have tried, but that stupid "being an immortal" thing ruined it.

“So how long have you lived in Tokyo?” At the sound of his deep husky voice she snapped back to reality.

“Oh not that long actually. I grew up in Greece. I just moved here about 2 years ago. I needed a change of scenery.”

He nodded for a second then seemed to remember that she couldn’t see it, “So did you run away from some crazy ex boyfriend or something? Isn’t that what change of scenery usually means?”

At that her laughter rang out loudly, “No I’m pretty sure in order to have a crazy ex that means I would have to have had a boyfriend. But if that’s what that means, then I’ve been using it wrong for a long time.”

Yash is blown away by how much her laughter seemed to tinkle like crystal. It’s beautiful and addictive, and all he wanted is to hear it again. Now he just has to think of something to say. Fuck what can he say? Then her words registered, “Are you telling me a beautiful woman such as yourself has never had a boyfriend? I find that very hard to believe.”

~~~~~

Her eyes seemed to go wide for an instant, but it vanished quickly, “No, well not for what seems like a very long time, I guess always put my career first. Guys would have to wait until I’ve accomplished every one of my dreams. I haven’t had time for relationships.” It seemed like everything she said to him was a lie and she felt so guilty for it. She has only ever had anything but time. It was more out of fear than lack of desire. Why can’t she at least be a little honest, will that ruin everything so quickly? “I think I’m afraid of the consequences of a relationship. I’ve seen firsthand that love doesn't last. It’s all just a lie we tell ourselves to make life more bearable.” She sighed audibly, 'way to go Kagome. Tell the incredibly sexy, available man that you don’t believe in love or relationships. That's the best way to get one, right?'

His voice interrupted her self loathing thoughts, "That's actually pretty amazing. Most people nowadays like the instant gratification, they don't think things like that should wait. Unless of course you're asexual, then I can see why relationships might not hold any appeal. But true love does exist. I’ve seen it once."

What could she say to that? Her mind zeroed in on his word choice 'asexual'. Her mouth responded to that word choice first, with what felt like no control over it. “I'm not ace. But I am an ally. You should be able to love anyone in the manner you choose. You shouldn't be forced into something, no anything, you don't want." She can hear the emotion in her voice already. 2300 fucking years, and the idea still hurts her. Her bastard father raped her mother, and the great Goddess Athena punished her mother for it. Those stupid fucking deities playing with the lives of mortals.

She refocused and saw the water in her glass swirling around if it's own accord and she took a deep breath and stopped it. She can't let her emotions get the best of her. It's not safe, it will likely never be safe for a being such as her.

She looked up and he was staring at her water glass, 'fuck he totally saw that!'


	2. Chapter 2

What in the hell did he just see? She seemed to go into her own world after she started speaking so openly. Then his ears picked up on a slight sloshing and the water in her glass was swirling as if going down a drain. It stopped as suddenly as it had started, and he looked up to see her biting her bottom lip. Did she somehow cause that? He stared at her hard for a minute, then he could smell the beginnings of tears and her anxiety rolling off of her in waves. Fuck, he better play it cool.

He sat there wracking his brain on how to calm the situation, and suddenly the song ended. He took a deep breath and touched her arm gently, trying to make sure his claws didn’t knick her porcelain skin. She gasped quietly and looked up towards him and as he stared into her sea-blue eyes. He couldn’t help but wonder what her world was like. Was she trapped in darkness, could she distinguish the changes in the light, or any type of movement? Had she always been blind or had she known the beauty of the world once upon a time?

He pulled his hand away as soon as Sango and Miroku returned to the table. Sango was barely out of breath, but Miroku was panting like a dog after a run. And I thought I was the one who was part dog. Heh. 

As soon as the two sat down Kagome glanced at Sango, “Next one’s mine, right?” 

Sango smiled and shook her head for a second, “I don’t have your stamina, I need one song break. Then yes, I will get back on the floor with you. In the meantime, Yash, why don’t you take Kagome to dance?”

Yash felt his ears pin to his head, even if they weren’t visible. Did the bitch really have to put me on the spot like that? He sits there shocked for a second, then nods, “Yeah, though I might have liked the opportunity to ask myself, Sango.”

He glanced at Kagome and her cheeks were a bright red and she was staring down at the table. He can see little tremors in her water glass again, Fuck it really is her. I have to calm her down. I don’t know how she’s doing that. She smells mostly human but with a slight reptilian odor, but it smells like they are pets, not necessarily that she is part reptile. But maybe I’m wrong. Fuck, get out of your head!!!

“Kagome, do you wanna dance?” He said far too quickly, then held his hand out for her to take and led her to the dance floor as the next song just began pumping through the speakers. She looked up to him and nodded shyly. He was still so curious about her, but he couldn't give himself away. Her small hand fit in his larger one so perfectly as he wrapped his fingers around hers and pulled her to her feet. 

“Thank you. I’m sorry about Sango, she can be so embarrassing. I don’t know what she really thought was going to happen.” He led her to the dance floor and she easily avoided touching anyone, even being blind, better than he did with his excellent vision. There’s something about her, he has to figure out. But for right now, he wrapped his arm around the beauty and they began to dance.

~~~~~~

Kagome was trying to figure out how to smooth things over with her stupid water glass when she heard the song ending, ‘Please don’t say anything to them’ She felt herself secretly wishing so hard, If he blew her cover she was fucked. How could she explain this? As soon as Sango got back to the table, she made a break for it, “Next one’s mine, right?” her voice comes out in a rush, but she’s hoping it sounds like excitement and not nervousness and fear.

Sango shakes her head and responds, “I don’t have your stamina, I need a break for at least one song. Then yes, I will get back on the floor with you.” Then she turns to face Yash, “In the meantime, Yash, why don’t you take Kagome to dance?” 

Dammit, I just wanted a minute away from him, to get my head back in the right place! She heard his voice cut through her thoughts and she looked up to see him nodding, “Yeah, though I might have liked the opportunity to ask myself, Sango.” Then he turned to her, “Would you like to dance, Kagome?”

She felt herself nod slowly, and he extended his hand towards her. She saw him watching his own clawed hands and her heart instantly melts a little. She gently put her hand in his, knowing he couldn’t really hurt her, and as she looked up, she saw his ears pinned down to his head. He must be very uncomfortable.

She smiled instinctively as he led her across the dance floor. He really is kind, but he looked so scared. She’s speaking before she even knew what to say, “Thank you. I’m sorry about Sango, she can be so embarrassing. I don’t know what she really thought was going to happen.” He looked back at her with a smirk and his ears perked up just a little bit. She tried and failed to hold back a small grin at seeing the cute appendages wiggle a little. 

As they arrive on the dance floor, he does an amazing job at keeping pace with her moves, he couldn’t follow her style, since she has had so much time to practice, although it’s obvious he has had more time than his age shows, since he is using some moves that she knows were from a couple hundred years ago. After the song ends, he twirls her once, and pulls her against him as the last note fades. She can feel the deep blush appear on her cheeks, and it is such a foreign feeling. It seems like it has been centuries since she allowed herself to be close to someone. Not that she didn't ever date anyone, but it was dangerous to be with people for too long; lest her most grave secret be discovered.

As they separated and began the walk back to their table she’s surprised to find herself slightly panting from both the exertion and excitement, but even more surprising, somehow he doesn’t seem to be even close to out of breath. It’s been a very long time since anyone was able to keep up with her, let alone outlast her. She can feel the smile spreading wide across her cheeks, and was pleasantly surprised to see him grinning back at her. Once they are in view of the table his smile mostly vanishes and is replaced by a small smirk that is much less noticeable. Miroku is wagging his eyebrows up and down while looking towards his friend, until Sango looks back at him, then he recovers his charming smile as he gazes at her like she is the most beautiful creature that ever walked the earth. Kagome’s smile faltered for an instant as she felt a slight pang of jealousy, but she tried to recover quickly. Yash again seemed to be the only one who noticed anything, but he quickly schooled his features to alleviate the look of confusion.

She really is happy for her dear friend, but it’s so hard to see it and know it is something she will never be allowed to have. For the first time in two millennia she wanted it, and maybe it’s because she never really let herself think about it, but she really did want it.

~~~~

Inuyasha was confused but hid it well. Why did she seem upset? It didn’t seem to make any sense. He glanced over and saw their friends making goo-goo eyes at each other, but she wouldn’t have been able to see them. Unless, of course, this was all a lie, but he couldn’t smell any demon on her, so how would she have made the whole thing up? And more than that, why would she have bothered? He felt this very strong urge to figure this girl out. She was keeping secrets. So was he, but it bothered him more than it should’ve, especially since he probably wouldn’t see her again. Unless the goofy faces the other two were making at each other was a sign of the relationship that would be starting. If they started dating, then he would undoubtedly see her a lot.

Then he glanced at Sango and wondered if she knew of her friend's secrets. If she had entrusted this to anyone at all, or if this was something, no one knew but her. Why could he not stop thinking about this girl and a secret that might not even exist? Was he insane? He looked back to Kagome and her eyes were on him, even if she couldn’t see out of them. It didn’t seem to matter that she was blind. Her eyes were still smiling at him. He was blown away by how much he was already falling for this girl. He took a draught of his beer, and she sipped her glass of wine. He was about to make small talk, when the server arrived with their meals. She had ordered a dainty little meal compared to his steak and shrimp.

He wasn’t sure if he was paying for her meal with this not being an actual date, but he had brought along plenty of money if that was the case. It’s not like his father hadn’t left him enough of an inheritance to pay for anything he ever wanted, not to mention he had a good job in his old man’s company even if his brother hated him. He followed through on his promise to their dad to give him an opportunity. Lucky him, as people often told him. Even though he would have been happier being able to chase his own dreams, he couldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. It’s not that he didn’t like his job, it gave him everything he could ever hope for and a lot of opportunities to learn new things.

He knew one day soon he would have to retire for a few decades and come back under a new identity as Sesshomaru had suggested several centuries ago. It was the only way to make things work. The human world didn't know demons existed, and they had to create new identities every few decades. It didn't use to be this difficult, but now with everything so visible, with online accounts and websites, everyone knew who you were without ever knowing you. So he knew within the next few decades he would have to disappear and come back as his own son or something. Sesshomaru was on his 5th name already. He said it just made it easier.

How long had he been staring at this voluptuous creature while lost in his own head? Wait, her lips were moving! How much of the conversation had he missed?!!

“- Yash?” Kagome’s voice finally came into focus, what the hell is wrong with him?

“I’m so sorry Kagome, I think I zoned out for a minute, what did you ask me?” He felt like the biggest ass in all of history. But her grin seemed to get bigger for a second and she responded quickly and kindly.

“What exactly do you do, Yash?”

He felt himself blush a little, “I work for my father’s company. I’m an attorney in my late father’s law firm. He’d been grooming me to become an attorney since I was a young kid, I watched him go and help all the little guys, although my brother has taken on a lot bigger clients and kinda taking the point of helping people out of the equation.”

Her smile falters a little at that statement, “I’m sorry, it sounds like he’s kind of taken away the part that made it worth it for you away. I think it’s very honorable that you want to help people though. That’s such a sweet thing to choose to do, and it sounds like it's all for the right reasons. I hope someday you can find a way to recapture that part you’re missing.”

Something about this girl was driving him crazy, “What made you go into teaching?” His question comes out before he can stop it. What a dumb thing to ask!

But her smile is still as big as before, “I think there’s so much to learn about history, and every day we live is going to be someone else’s history someday. It’s important to try to prepare the next generations to take care of things after we’re gone. I know when I look through the history books they don’t have everything right, but I hope we can tell the true story in ours. If not, the future children are going to be missing out on just as much.” She seemed to catch herself and looked down shyly, “Sorry I didn’t mean to blabber on like that. I get excited when thinking about things like that. I know it’s not a moneymaker like being an attorney at law, but it is my current dream.” The giggle that followed is like music to his ears and he feels them wiggle a little at the sound. Her grin magically gets bigger as they wiggle, and he feels his smile falter. Was she a witch? Could she see through his disguise? His ears trained forward, and he gave another smell in her direction. He can’t sense anything out of the ordinary, no spell components, or anything that would set him to thinking something was wrong. Just the strange smell of snakes.

“So Kagome, do you have any pets?” He was going to figure this out.

She smiled a little smaller, “Nope. not yet. I used to have a pet cat, but the fat cat died before I moved from Greece. He was a chubby little stinker who liked to monopolize my time and my lap and always liked to prevent me from grading papers. I do miss him though.” Her smile became a little wistful, but she seemed to shake it off after a second. “Why do you ask? Do I have cat hair on me or something?” She makes a show of wiping down her dress for a second but never took her eyes off of him.

“Nah, I actually didn’t peg you for a cat lady, I thought a snake or reptile would suit you much better.” her eyes go wide and she sits up straight.

“Ssnake? Wh-wh-why would you think that?”

Sango started giggling, “Kagome, I didn’t know you were afraid of snakes! Wow, have you ever been bitten or is this a completely irrational phobia?”

Kagome glanced to Sango, “Oh it’s an unfounded fear, they just kinda scare me a bit. But I love fuzzy creatures more than scaled ones.” He could smell the anxiety rolling off of her, and she was clearly lying. Why would she lie about having a pet snake? And why would Sango not know she had a pet snake? There was much more to this than meets the eye.


	3. Chapter 3

“Nah, I actually didn’t peg you for a cat lady, I thought a snake or reptile would suit you much better.” She sits up straight in her chair and stares straight at him with her unseeing eyes.

It feels like her eyes are going to bug out of her head. She’s opened them so wide she can feel the scars pulling tight and it causes tears to well in the corners from the sting. Her heart is pounding so hard in her chest, she worries it might beat its way out of her chest. She glances up and sees his ears trained forward and she knows he can hear it almost as loudly as she can. Her heart is breaking. He knows everything, and she has to leave her home and life behind. She had hoped that even if he could see through her disguise he wouldn’t draw attention to it since he was in disguise too. But maybe he sees Tokyo as his territory and no other beings are allowed to live here. Her voice comes out shaky and the terror in it makes her more ashamed than she has felt in several centuries.

“Ssnake? Wh-wh-why would you think that?”

Sango’s giggling startles her more than she would have guessed, “Kagome, I didn’t know you were afraid of snakes! Wow, have you ever been bitten or is this a completely irrational phobia?”

She glances towards her friend not sure how to recover from this then her words hit home. This could be the perfect explanation, “Oh it’s an unfounded fear, they just kinda scare me a bit. But I love fuzzy creatures more than scaled ones.” She looks back and is hoping so much that he bought her terror as a phobia. But he looks unconvinced. Her mind is a million miles away on how to convince him not to tell anyone her secret, then she realizes if he has blackmail on her she has the same dirt on him. They can work together and not screw this up for anyone. 

She tries to take a deep breath and calm her pounding heart. She’s never tried to blackmail anyone. Her goal has always been to be inconspicuous. Hell, she changed her name to a Japanese one to hide in this country. But if he truly wanted this war she would fight it. She closes her eyes and wills the tears back, trying to be subtle with her slight sniffle. She hadn’t asked for this fate anymore than he had, and she did everything she could so that she wouldn’t hurt anyone else. Even blinding herself, so that the curse could end with her. She never allowed herself to have real friends until now, and she didn’t want to lose everything again.

She had given up so much in this world just to not be noticed. She barely had any friends, and she had never really had family. Her mother was the only one who ever loved her and she had been killed when she was young. What the myths never said was the reason she was so mean and angry to everyone who came to her island was that there was a ship that had landed there before and the sailors saw her and her mother as monsters and attacked them. She was hurt badly as a young child, and after that her mother attacked anyone who set foot on her island. She had left the mainland to avoid being ridiculed and attacked and instead they sought her out to do it. So after that her mother no longer cared about their being allowed to live, any who landed on her island had come there to die. That was why Medusa was so feared. Because she was a mother protecting her baby only no one knew it.

She takes a deep breath and releases it slowly through her nose. She was a nephalem, if he wanted a war she would be sure to win the fight, or to die in the battle. She could easily take over this entire little island without breaking a sweat thanks to her father’s powers she had inherited, but she still didn’t want any of that. She just wanted to pretend a little longer to live a normal life. It seems he had unfortunately brought the war to her. She wasn’t going to roll over as easily as she had, her mother fought hard so that she could live and she wasn’t going to let that gift go to waste. She realized Yash was staring at her hard, as if waiting to see what she was going to say, she faltered only for a second more then the lies rolled off her tongue easily again, “Sorry, I guess the phobia had my heart pounding a little harder than I realized. But I calmed down now. So since you brought up pets, you strike me as a dog person. Am I right?”

At the word dog his ears moved forward and she could have sworn they almost twitched whether it was a test or something else she wasn’t sure, but she kept her face open and smiling and didn’t make any movements when they swivelled slightly. She was going to win this war.

~~~~

His ears are trained forward on her, and her heart is pounding fast and hard. If he trusted her at all he would think she was suffering a panic attack, but no. There was something going on, and she was lying about something. He just had to figure out what. He watched her take a shaky breath and let it out slowly, and when her eyes opened she looked straight at him. He is almost shocked at how beautiful her blue eyes were, he could almost get lost in them. ‘Stupid! You can’t trust her, stop thinking like that!’ When she begins speaking it snaps him back to the present.

“Sorry, I guess the phobia had my heart pounding a little harder than I realized. But I calmed down now. So since you brought up pets, you strike me as a dog person. Am I right?”

If he had been taking a drink he might have almost choked, and his ears darted forward once more. His eyes were fixed on her face to see if she let any emotion show. He had to see if she was toying with him. After a few seconds he answers guardedly, “Nah, I don’t have any pets right now. I do prefer dogs to cats though.”

She nods in response, and the band starts a new song. It must have been one of Sango’s favorites because she let out a slight squeal and stood up, “Kags, it’s our song!” 

They stood up to go and dance and Miroku couldn’t stop watching Sango’s ass swaying to the music. That man had been an ass man since before he hit puberty.

“How long have Sango and Kagome known each other?” Inuyasha needed information. It was the only way he was going to figure this all out. Miroku shrugged not even trying to remove his eyes from his date’s voluptuous bottom. “I think she started working at the school a year ago, Sango has been there for a few years. They met in an assembly or something like that. Why not ask her, it seems like a good conversation starter.”

Inuyasha thought back to her lies, it didn’t seem like the best idea when he didn’t think she was telling the truth very often. At least her scent told him when she was lying though. He was his very own lie detector. Yeah maybe he should. As he watched her dancing he recognized a move that had existed back almost 350 years ago. It was barely known today. He hadn’t seen a person use it for a couple centuries at least. She had a very big secret and he needed to figure it out.

~~~~

She decided that with this incoming war she may still lose her best friend, so she's going to enjoy the time with her and they dance and laugh the entire time. She puts the Adonis out of her thoughts and focuses on Sango’s smile and laughter. She finds herself smiling and laughing along with her. She let herself be happy and hoped with all her heart it wouldn’t be the last time. When the song ended she and Sango went back to the table and once again, Yash and Miroku were pulling their seats out for them.

She couldn’t figure him out, if he could see through her disguise and was so disgusted by her, why was he still being polite? Was he just trying to keep it under wraps from his friend because then he would have to explain how he could see it? But he didn’t seem disgusted by her. Her mind was running a mile a minute trying to think what it all meant when the band announced a break before the last few songs. The sound had dropped quite a bit and it was much easier to have a conversation, and she saw his ears flick almost in relief at that. She wanted to smile, it was so cute but she couldn’t. That was a chance she didn’t want to take. 

His voice was as smooth as syrup and it rolled over her in such a pleasant way she almost missed what he was saying. “You definitely have some amazing dance moves. You must have been in a lot of dance classes since you were a little girl.”

Still trying to get her to divulge her secrets, maybe she is wrong about him. Can she trust that though? “Only in my adult life actually. But I have had a lot of training. Better? Now you know the secret. I wanted to dance. It’s a beautiful expression of happiness and love. Every culture has its own forms and I wanted to experience all the different ways to show love that I could.”

Why was she telling him this? Sango had asked and she never even told her this much. She was taking such a risk. Some of those classes haven’t been offered in decades. She had just told him enough that he can have the upper hand, but she found herself not wanting to lie to him. Her mouth seemed to decide if she could she was going to be honest even without her mind’s permission.

The band started playing and Miroku asked Sango for another turn and they left the other two at the table.

His voice surprised her, she was lost in the sound of the music for a moment. “It seems weird for a person who doesn’t believe in love at all to want to experience the ways to express it. Seems almost foolish if what you previously said was true. So I guess you’re lying to me or to yourself. I just wonder which one it is, and why you can’t be honest with anyone.”

Her head snapped up and pain and anger flared through her. She stood up, “excuse me I need to use the restroom.” She stepped away before he could even stand up to follow and she watched him sitting dumbfounded at the table. She made it a point to walk to the wall and follow it to the hallway she knew led towards the lobby and restrooms. She snagged her server once out of his view and asked if she could pay for hers and the other lady’s meals. She paid in cash and left a sizable tip, the young man tried to decline the tip, but she responded with “This is to buy your silence. Don’t tell them I left right away, okay? Let me get on the subway and I’ll let them know. Thanks for everything though.” Then she grabbed her coat off the rack by the door and walked quickly to the subway clicking her small white and red cane on the walk as a show.

Once she got on her train car and sat in one of the seats she texted Sango that she was fine but had to go. Short and sweet. Sango had apparently returned to the table then gone to the restroom to find her. After checking both the women’s and men’s rooms she kinda figured.

Kagome- “Sorry I worried you. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

She put her headphones in and pushed play before putting her phone in her pocket. She did like the ease of things in this current age. Listen to music everywhere, want a cup of tea or espresso stop anywhere. She rode the subway to her stop, constantly on the alert for anyone who might try to hurt her.

~~~~

Yash watched her rush off to the restroom and by the time the song ended he realized she’d bolted. She had finally been honest about something and his dumbass was mad that she had her own fucking secrets. What the hell was with him? Something about her made him want to know the truth. He snagged the server to pay for his date’s meal and was told that she had paid for hers and Sango’s. Now Miroku glared at him. He knew how Miroku felt about paying for his date’s meal, and he was gonna hear about this. A lot.

Instead of dealing with Miroku’s ire he turned to Sango, “Hey. I’m not sure what I did or said, but I am sorry I messed up your girl’s night. That definitely hadn’t been my plan. Tell her that when you see her too.” He stood up when the server brought him his check and he paid for his meal then slipped the server 2500 yen for Miroku’s meal too. He figured this at least would win him some points back. Then he bid the couple a good evening and headed out. Her scent was still fresh and easily discernible even in the busy city. Something about her had him following her scent. He followed it to the subway and stood near the door of the car to be able to see which stop she got off at.

He knew he was being a creeper, but he couldn’t help it. He at least had to make sure she had gotten home safely. I mean if he wouldn’t have been such an asshole he would’ve walked her home anyway, right? He arrived at a beautiful apartment building that had 4 levels, and her soft scent entered the front door. He circled the building carefully looking for lights on upstairs. Once behind the building he scaled it easily and perched up on the edge. He listened intently and could hear her soft voice singing and humming lightly. She was definitely close, he moved to another side and saw light spilling onto a small balcony, her shadow dancing around and he couldn’t help but smile.

Then he saw something else, he couldn’t figure it out, but it was moving around with her. It’s shadow didn’t seem as solid, it reminded him of kitsune fire. But he knew all the kitsunes in the area since he and his brother helped them acquire papers for everything. How would she know them? Unless his earlier suspicion had been right. Was she a hanyou? Had she been hidden in Greece for the last few centuries? His heart stuttered. Another hanyou. Someone who would understand not fitting in anywhere. Someone who would know the hardships of losing one parent since their life wasn’t as long as your demon parent’s. Someone who would be like him. He jumped down silently and landed on her balcony in the corner and away from the light to remain out of sight.

What he saw was not what he had expected. She was beautiful. Her perfect curves were wrapped in a soft white towel that left very little to the imagination. Her hair was no longer long onyx waves but beautifully colored serpents that she was lovingly singing to. She had a small bucket of water and she was making the water rise out of the bucket and gently cleaning the serpents on her head with more care than he ever would have imagined. Then he saw her head turn and her eyes were scarred horribly. His heart dropped, someone had sought to destroy her ability to see forever and they had succeeded. The scars stretched still so angry and red. He knew she wasn’t a hanyou anymore, but his knowledge of creatures was limited. What could she possibly be? He felt like he had intruded on her now that he had discovered something precious. He leapt back up to the roof easily and silently. Then made his way home, his brain running a thousand miles a second.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters portrayed herein.
> 
> Trigger Warning. I want to warn everyone there is nonconsensual activity in this chapter.

Chapter 4

Just before he leapt upwards Kagome caught a glimpse of his white hair and golden eyes. Her snakes had caught the movement and she knew he had seen everything. Even in her damaged not seeing eyes, tears pooled. Was this the end of her happiness? Was this where she had to try to go somewhere else? But who would he tell? Was her secret going to be a secret tomorrow? Would everyone know about the monster in the apartment building? She felt the tears dripping rapidly and puddling on the floor. Her heart was breaking. She came to a big city hoping to be able to blend in. To hide in plain sight. Perhaps her mother had the right idea staying away from everyone, but she didn’t want to find a hidden island and be alone for all eternity. She hadn’t done anything wrong by existing! She hadn’t asked to be born a hideous monster. Then she stopped. When she remembered her mother, she didn’t see her as a hideous monster. She was beautiful. Even after Athena ruined her. She still had kind eyes and a sweet caring smile. At least for Kagome. She remembered her mother singing soft lullabies to her at night and helping her to harness her powers, especially during storms. She helped Kagome learn how to protect them from hurricanes, even as a young girl. If her mother was beautiful even when turned into a Gorgon, doesn’t that mean so was she? No. She didn’t dare to think something like that. The world would only ever look at her and see a monster.

She stood up and with a single thought, every tear she had allowed to fall rose from the floor, her cheeks, and even her towel and dripped into the bucket. She pulled all of the water from her snakes so they would remain warm, and that fell into the bucket as well. She then lifted her hand and all the water that was in the bucket rose in a giant orb and swished to the sink. She carried the empty bucket and placed it under the sink now that it was completely dry. She would have to see what happened tomorrow.

She went to bed and had a very fitful sleep thinking about where she might move to when he took away her other options. When she finally succumbed to sleep, even her dreams were mocking her, she remembered hiding as her mother instructed and watched that evil Perseus kill her mother. She woke up in a cold sweat, tears dripping down her face again. She felt one of the snakes nuzzle the side of her face and she sobbed. She sobbed until her chest begged for air and her head pounded. Her mother had suffered so greatly at the hands of so many. Two different all powerful beings, and then to top it off, the one who had taken away her humanity told a warrior how to kill her because she had become a monster. But it was her own fault. She changed her into something else hoping she would become a monster. And was angry when her plan worked. She sobbed for what felt like forever until she finally cried herself back to sleep.

When the sun rose and she woke up her head was throbbing more than when she had finally fallen back to sleep. She carefully walked to the en suite and had a nice cool glass of water. She turned on the hot water in the tub and filled it about halfway. She climbed in and took a soak for a bit allowing her powers to play in the water. Moving it to make beautiful shapes and designs. Anything to distract her from her terrible evening. After her hot bath she stood up and used her power to remove every drop of water so that she was completely dry and got dressed for the day. She checked her phone and had several missed text messages from Sango. She read through them all and sighed loudly.

Apparently Yash had apologized for being rude, and for ‘ruining girls’ night’. She wondered if he apologized for peeping in on her afterwards, but no she knew he had already left the bar if he was here. She wondered briefly how he had found her, but if the ears were any indication he might have had other dog senses too. There’s no way he was able to catch up with her and still have had time to talk to Sango. That song had 3 minutes left at least when she had left. Plus if Sango checked the restrooms that added at least 2 minutes, she was already in the subway car. But he had found her. And apparently found her balcony as well. Then she realized, how in Mount Olympus had he managed to get onto her balcony? She was on the top floor! He must have more secrets than she knew as well. Maybe she was in more trouble than she had previously thought. He knew a lot more about her than she did about him. Most of her blackmail was minor in comparison.

~~~~

Yash couldn’t sleep, so he was doing research on his phone. It had been easy to discover what she was, but it made little to no sense. Gorgon. His phone had provided the answer easily. After doing research he had found that in ancient Greece there had been three of them. The one, Medusa, had been killed since she was the only one who wasn’t immortal. There were varying stories about how she had become a Gorgon. Some were that she was born one of the three and they were all sisters, another was that she had fallen in love with Poseidon and broke her vow of celibacy to Athena and was cursed for it, and the last one he found struck him the harshest, she had been a priestess in Athena’s temple and was raped by Poseidon, then since Athena couldn’t hurt her brother she lashed out at the mortal instead. Devout followers of Athena said it was to protect her so no man could ever rape or hurt her again, but others just believed it was malicious. Her later actions led him to believe the malicious intent since she helped a warrior kill the Gorgon later, even though she lived on an island and if no one else had gone there, no one else would have ever been in danger.

Apparently the gaze of a Gorgon could turn any mortal to stone, his mind drifted back to those horrific scars on her face. Was someone so afraid of her ability that they tried to scratch her eyes out? Were they really so scared of the beautiful woman he had dinner with? He remembered her beautiful laughter and couldn’t reconcile the two. She seemed as if she didn’t want to hurt anyone. Nothing about her seemed malicious. Hell her entire career choice involved helping others. She wanted to teach the children history. Then her words rang back in his head, “when I look through the history books they don’t have everything right, but I hope we can tell the true story in ours.” She did know the history books had it wrong, because she had been there. The last record of the Gorgons was at least 2000 years ago. He wasn’t sure how an offspring came to be, unless there were others. The only three known were females, and all of their gazes could turn men into stone. How would they have been able to produce a child? Then his mind flashed back to the water glass, and the water swirling around her at the table. 

“No fucking way.” There was no way the ancient Grecian Gods really existed! There was no fucking way that she was the daughter of the God Posiedon, and the product of that event over 2300 years ago. But how else could he explain it? She had power over water, she was definitely at least part Gorgon. Now that he knew what could he possibly do? Nothing. He finally decided. He would leave it be. He wasn’t likely to ever see her again, anyway. He would just put the whole thing out of his head. He was after all the son of a great Dog demon, who was he to argue what was normal? She could live her life in peace and he would continue on with his. 

A few days had passed since his date night. Miroku was furious with him since Sango was pissed off at Miroku. He had just got out of work and was walking towards the subway when he smelled her. That sweet scent and the undertone of what he now knew were snakes. It wasn’t a bad scent, especially now that he understood it. It smelled wild, and untamed. He glanced aroundu ntil his ears picked up the telltale clicking, he peeked around the corner and she was heading down the steps towards the subway. He almost thought he heard her gasp, but there were too many people to be sure it was her. He stayed near the edge of the building until she was out of sight and then waited up at the street for that train to leave so that he could catch the next one. It was just better to give her space and leave her alone. There was no reason to be near her, even though his instincts wanted him to follow her. He stomped those feelings down. It was just because he felt bad that he had spied on her. He found out something he shouldn’t know is all. But he would make it up to her by staying out of her way and out of her life. She would be happier that way.

He caught the next train and headed home. The rest of his night was uneventful. The next day he woke up and made a pot of coffee, at least he tried. He had started the pot and went and got dressed and came back to the pot spluttering and trying but no coffee was made. He had an important meeting with a client today, he fucking needed that coffee. He said fuck it and left a few minutes early in order to stop at a little local cafe on his way to work. As soon as he entered he smelled her again, The universe was seriously fucking with him this week wasn’t it? He glanced over and saw her sitting in the corner, her cheeks blushing and so fucking cute. Damn his guilty conscience. He got in line and studiously tried to ignore her. She stood up as soon as he turned away and walked out throwing her pastry and her coffee in the trash. He shrugged to himself, figuring she realized she was late. He ordered his coffee and drank it on the way to work arriving right on time.

That night instead of going directly home he went the other way. He had to go to the store. This time he just bumped into her before she made it to the subway. She had her cane out but was dragging her hand along one of the older buildings running her small dainty fingers across the outer wall roughened from the passage of time. He saw this cute wistful smile on her face but it seemed to vanish rather suddenly. He wanted to stay and see why, but he knew if he stayed too close he would do something stupid. He crossed the street and looked back and saw that any trace of the smile was gone, her head hung low and her hand no longer on the wall. She clicked her cane rhythmically as she went towards the subway they both got on yesterday. He waited until he knew she was gone and crossed the street again, her scent had changed to such a deep sadness, he couldn’t figure it out. But such a strong part of him wanted to. He walked to the store to buy a new coffee pot then got on the subway to go home. His mind wouldn’t leave her scent though. Why had she gotten so sad?

He woke up the next morning and had coffee at his house as usual, the new coffee pot wasn’t bad, it had a lot of fancy options, but he just liked plain black coffee. He went to work and spent the day working on a case, trying to figure out how to help his client not lose as much money even though they were legally in the wrong. He really hated his job anymore. His day dragged by and he was so thrilled when it was time to go. He left a few minutes later hoping to avoid her completely. He waited until at least 2 trains had passed compared to the one he normally took, then headed out.

As he approached the subway he could smell her scent, fuck it was extremely recent. He walked down and she was standing in line. The second she was close enough to see clearly her head lowered. He could smell her sadness from here. This time there was a different scent with it, was that anxiety or fear? She stepped further away and went to a different line closer to the end of the platform. There were only a few people up that way. He stayed down this end and they both got in different cars. The scent continued to bother him, and why did it seem that everytime he was near she got sad? This woman was a fucking puzzle. He rode home in irritation, trying to figure her the fuck out.

He didn’t see her the next few days since he was appearing in court and didn’t go to his regular office building or even at his regular times. He won the case easily. There were a million technicalities and he fucking hated exploiting them all. But that was his job, and if he wanted to remain a part of the business he would do what his asshole brother wanted him to. He went home and felt almost sad that he hadn’t seen her. Which, once he realized that’s what that feeling was, he was more pissed off at himself than he had been in a long time. What the fuck did he care if he didn’t see her? She didn’t even fucking like him! He took a very hot shower to wash away the irritation, to no avail, and sat on the couch listening to his favorite blues station. After a few hours he went to bed.

The next morning he went back to the office and it was business as usual. His brother was happy since his client was very happy. A nice lunch was provided to thank him for taking care of the huge corporation. He worked out his day taking care of other paperwork and planning other cases, and the day seemed to fly by. He waited until his usual train left and then went to catch the subway home. He almost felt sad that he didn't see her while going down to the platform, but upon getting on the car he smelled her instantly. His eyes found her quickly, sitting near the far door to this car. It was almost as if she saw him too, because a light pink dusted her cheeks, and she looked down to her feet. After he entered she stood carefully and went to the intersecting doors. She quietly exited the car for the next one. 

His heart was pounding, she knew he was there. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind now. She knew he was there. She had purposefully been avoiding him. She really did hate him. He grabbed one of the handles and his ears drooped low on his head. The train started moving and he ignored the world. After a few minutes or so passed a man came out of the car she had gone into, “That’s fucking sick, why would you do that in public? Can’t keep your fucking dick in your pants.” His ears trained on the car for a second when he heard a slight whimper. Then he smelled it. Blood. He was moving before he even realized it. He made it to the door before he registered he had started moving. The sight he saw when he got to the door had his blood boiling.

~~~~

Monday the school was closed for an event that was happening the next day so Kagome and Sango went shopping downtown. They hit up several stores and Sango looked at nice dresses for her date this weekend. Then Sango had to go get ready for dinner with her little brother. She had been invited but Kagome hadn’t wanted to intrude, so she stayed and took herself for a small bite to eat. As she was getting on the subway she was keeping an eye out everywhere and happened to notice the Adonis coming around the corner and she gasped a little. But it seemed the second he spotted her, he disappeared. ‘He really does hate me. Who can blame him? I am the monster from the great myth. For all he knows I am Medusa, and I have killed hundreds if not thousands of souls. It doesn’t matter, at least he hasn’t demanded I leave and he hasn’t told anyone else what I am as far as I know. Not yet at least. I guess I will just wait it out.’ She took the subway to her stop and went home alone. Her sleep was fitful and she woke feeling more tired than when she went to bed. But she couldn’t bring herself to stay in bed.

Kagome didn’t have to go to the school at her normal time Tuesday as they were finishing up with the event from the previous day. She took her extra time off in stride, and decided to hit up this coffee shop she had heard wonderful things about, that was too busy to go to the day before. She went in and it smelled delicious. She ordered a coffee with a little milk and 2 sugars, along with a flaky pastry filled with apples. She sat in the corner watching all the people come in and out for their morning coffees. That is until The Sexy Adonis walked in again. Why was he so sexy? She couldn’t help but blush. Then he looked away, and her head fell. What Gods were angry at her now? She stood up, threw her coffee and pastry away and left. She needed to get away from him. She got on the subway and went to school.

Her day went quickly, especially since she found out her afternoon classes were cancelled too. She decided to go back downtown. Sango had been looking at a beautiful dress, but chose not to buy it. Since her friend’s birthday was coming up, she figured she could surprise her. She arrived at the store from the previous day and found the dress. She and Sango wore the same size except that Sango was a little taller. Once she was sure the dress would fit her friend she purchased it with cash and placed the bag into her satchel. 

She found herself walking by a building that had stone the same color as the stone on her island. She reached out tentatively and the cool rock reminded her of her first home. Her only home for well over a century. She couldn’t help but smile, huddled in the small cave with the roaring ocean the only music she had ever heard. She remembered sitting in her mother’s arms and the smile changed a bit. She could feel the pain. It didn’t matter that over 2 millennia had passed. She would always miss her mother. Especially since she had not since known someone who could love her. What a lonely existence. Once again she questioned whether being alive was worth it. But her mother had made the ultimate sacrifice to protect her. She shook her head slightly to herself then she remembered she was in public. She began walking again and when she straightened up she saw him again. She was going to kill the fates. They loved to toy with the lives of the mortals, even if that didn’t quite include her. Then he crossed the street. Was he afraid of her? What a foolish question, of course he was. Her head hung low and her hand fell from the wall. She used her cane to find her way to the subway while her snakes watched the Silver haired Adonis a little longer. 

She hadn’t planned to go downtown but realized she had dropped her wallet at the restaurant. She called them and they did tell her they had it and would be open by 11. So after work she went back downtown. She tried to get in and out, she really did but the smell from the cafe enticed her too much and she ordered a quick cup of coffee to go. By the time she had her coffee and got to the subway it was later than usual and she breathed a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, the Adonis had apparently been trying to avoid her too. She saw him walk down the steps and her head drooped low. 

What or who had she angered enough to torment her like this? Unless he was actively seeking her out to keep tabs on her. Her heartbeat sped up, was he trying to scare her away? Was this his way of telling her she wasn’t welcome? She decided to move away from him, and hope that somehow although she didn’t believe in coincidences, that this was all one big coincidence. She walked to the first car where there weren’t as many people and got on, he got on further towards the end of the train. She rode home alone. She was after all always alone. Being alone was best for her anyway.

She had stayed away from downtown for a few days, but Sango had wanted to go out for lunch. She wasn’t ready to go back to her large and empty apartment so she told Sango goodbye and walked around the park for a few hours. She was walking to the subway again and checked the time, it was the same time she kept seeing the Adonis come here to catch the subway. She walked a few blocks extra to a different subway entrance and took that train instead. She sat down near the door closest to the front of the car and tried to slow her heart rate. Her snakes’ eyes roamed passively and she held back an audible sigh at the sight of him getting on the train after a couple stops. She couldn’t catch a break.

She stood up and walked to the intersection between this car and the next and went through the door. This one was rather empty. Only two people were in this car, one was a younger man; tall and lanky. The other was a short, chubby fellow who was bald; he was watching her enter with great interest. It made her skin crawl the way he was looking at her. She chose a seat close to the door and away from both of them, curling in on herself a bit trying to make herself look smaller. She wished her disguise spell could just make her invisible. His eyes remained on her for a couple minutes until he got up to approach. She was hoping he was just coming towards the door, but as usual the Gods were not on her side. 

His eyes staring at her made her feel dirty like the hottest shower would do nothing to wash off the grime. However, that was nothing compared to the greasy quality of his voice.

“Why hello there, little one. How fortunate that you have chosen to come to me.”

She visibly shuddered at his words for a second before he continued.

“It does make my job much easier, you know. I have been following you for a couple weeks now; but I had never imagined you would make your capture so easy, Medusa.”

Her head snapped towards him. How could she even begin to convince him he was wrong? Her mouth opened to begin to try but before any words could come out he spoke again.

“Luckily, the man who hired me didn’t say I couldn’t have a little fun. So why not make this easy and I’ll be gentle.”

She could feel tears springing forth as she analyzed the situation. She could feel a fluid on him, but it wasn’t water. As she continued to try to find a source of water to help her, she felt him lean in close. She tried to move away, his arm snaked around her back to pull her towards him. His mouth was on hers kissing her hard before she could open her mouth to scream. And his hand latched onto her arm to prevent her from escaping. His one arm moved from her back to wrap around her waist to prevent her from escaping, with his other hand grabbing her breast and squeezing harshly.

The younger man stood up and walked towards the door. She could hear him grumbling about how inappropriate they were being, before leaving the train car they were in for the one she had left. Her mind was panicking. She was all alone with this pervert, who for all she knew was after her dead mother. She had to get away. The more she panicked the more aggravated the snakes seemed to get. Finally, one snapped out and bit the man hard on the neck. The man released her for a second and clamped his hand over his now bleeding neck. But the wicked smile on his face was absolutely terrifying. It only took a second for her to realize her snake was now lying limp against her shoulder. What had he done to her?

"Little one, I asked you to make this easy. Now my toxin will soon be entering your system. I will be able to do anything I want, anyway."

His arm that had been wrapped around her waist slipped into her pants. She wanted to scream but she had no control over her body. She could already feel her heart pounding slower, the world around her was getting fuzzier. She had to focus.

"Who are you, and what do you want from me?"

He smiled viciously, "My name is Muikotsu. I was hired to capture the Great Gorgon Medusa."

Her head shook and she almost squeaked from the movement. "I'm not Medusa, my mother was, she was killed by Perseus. I am no one. Please, just let me go."

She couldn't help but reflect on how pathetic she sounded. She heard him tsk before she fell off the seat to the floor. The train felt like it was spinning so fast around her.

She was trying so hard to get control of the situation, that she didn't hear the door open. She didn't see Yash enter the car, or hear the growl coming from him. After a few more seconds of struggling her world went dark.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Yash struggled to get from one side of the crowded car to the other, but his senses were screaming that she was in danger. After what felt like an eternity, but was probably only 15 seconds, he finally got to the separating doors and spotted her slouching on the seat. He slid the door open as silently as possible and her voice trembled, “I’m not Medusa, my mother was that she was killed by Perseus. I am no one. Please, just let me go.”

The short, fat man made a tsk sound in response and his demon blood almost took over. It had been centuries since his demon had run rampant, but today it seemed ready to attack full force.

He could feel a light rumble in his chest as he entered the door. It took him a second to notice that the man was holding his neck and blood coated his hand and was dripping down his arm. He held back a small smile. At least she got a hit in. As he was staring at the man, he noticed movement and her body fell off the seat and crumpled to the floor. She took a few deep breaths, and her eyes drifted closed. The unknown assailant smiled wickedly, and hauled her up by the front of her shirt, so that her back was against the seats behind her.

Yash moved before he even realized he was. The fat man was pressed with his back against the wall, and Kagome slunk to the floor again. He could smell this disgusting odor radiating off of the man. It was in his sweat, and in the blood that was pouring from his neck. Had this asshole poisoned himself so that no one else could hurt him? The rumble had reached a new level, and the man’s eyes were wide with terror. 

“Who the fuck are you?!”

Yash spoke the words with such a growl they were hard for even him to understand. The man just shook his head frantically, trying to figure out how to tell him he couldn’t understand him. Yash pulled him off the wall and slammed him back into it until his head hit with an audible thunk. His growl reverberated through the car.

“I said, ‘who the fuck are you?”

After he slowed his words enough, the man stuttered, as if trying to figure out what to say to calm the beast.

“My name is Muikotsu. I wasn’t going to hurt her. I swear. I was hired to collect her. But I wasn’t going to hurt her.”

Yash sneered back at the man. He could smell that the man was lying, and what he intended to do to Kagome. His demon was furious that this man thought he could have her, that he even thought he could touch her. Yash could feel his fangs lengthening and his claws. He balled his hand into a fist and delivered one blow directly to the man’s face. The short fat man collapsed under the punch. Yash threw him against the wall as if he were nothing. The loud bang caused the train to shudder, and the man laid there unmoving. He stared for a moment and was both irritated and relieved that he could see the man’s chest rise and fall from his breathing. But the creep wasn’t his priority. He would find him and punish him more thoroughly later. Instead, he knelt down and gently picked up Kagome, cradling her close to him. He waited by the door, glancing over occasionally to make sure the fuckhead was still unconscious, until the train screeched to a halt at the next stop. They were a little ways away from her apartment, but he didn’t want her waking up on the train.

As he was taking her home, he felt her trying to wake up. Every time she moved, he stopped and found somewhere to wait to give her a chance to get used to the surroundings. But it wasn’t until they were almost at her apartment building that her eyes finally opened. 

Before she seemed to register who he was, she started frantically fighting. Trying to do anything to escape. He set her down gently, but didn’t leave her side. His voice came out soft and gentle, trying to do anything he could think of to calm her mind.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. I’ve got you. He can’t hurt you anymore… You’re okay.”

Her face swung to his, and he could see tears welling up. Her head drifted to his shoulder, and he held her tight as she sobbed against him.

“Come on, let me take you home.”

He felt her nod against his chest, and he scooped her up and finished walking her to her apartment building. She handed him the key, and he carried her the rest of the way home.

~~~~~

The first thing Kagome noticed when she came back to consciousness was that she was being carried. The memory flooded her, and she felt her heart pounding hard again. He had her. That evil, vicious man had captured her. She tried to take stock and to see if she was hurt anywhere else, but her body was still too numb. She began to fight with everything she had. She had to get away from him.

Then something surprising happened. He set her down gently, but she could feel him still right next to her. After all, she was still rather drugged. what danger was he in. ‘He’s toying with me. He knows he’s won.’ Tears began filling her eyes. Then a soft deep voice rumbled next to her and her mind quieter down. Her entire soul seemed to relax. The snake’s eyes opened, and her own, and she saw beautiful deep golden eyes. She felt herself take a deep breath and released it. And then his voice came again.

“You’re okay.”

Her head slumped against his chest and she felt herself sobbing. She couldn’t remember the last time she had felt so weak. She was the daughter of a God and had been beaten by a mere man. Whoever this Naraku was that had hired the man, he would pay. His voice brought her back to the present.

“Come on, let me take you home.”

She nodded in silence against his chest, and he gently lifted her back up. Her eyes closed again as she nuzzled closer to him. Her snakes were waking up as well. And she carefully scanned their surroundings. As they walked up the steps to her building, she reached in her purse and handed him her keys. He managed to open the door without ever setting her down. Then he walked to the elevator and pushed the button, and they rode up in silence until they got to her floor. 

“Which way is your apartment?”

She carefully lifted her hand and pointed to the left, and he followed her direction. Her voice sounded too weak to be hers, and it bothered her.

“Number 42. All the way at the end.”

He walked evenly, and she used her key to unlock the door from his arms. He set her gently on the couch and disappeared for just a moment. He returned with a glass of water and to find her unconscious again.

~~~~~  
Kagome came to, lying on her couch with Yash’s jacket over her. She sat up quickly, and her head swam. Yash appeared with a glass of water just in time to catch her before she fell to the floor. Before she could realize who had her, she pushed away from him and huddled into the corner of the sofa. She folded herself as small as she could and covered her head and face with her arms. He couldn’t see with her disguise still active, but as a few snakes came to they stared at him and hissed. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, and his heart broke for her.  
“Kagame, you’re safe. Do you remember me bringing you home?” his voice was a soft rumble.  
She flinched at the sound for a second, then she looked around with the few snakes that were conscious. Once everything he said was confirmed her hands lowered and wrapped around her knees drawing them closer to her chest. She was so scared every movement jarred her senses and she couldn’t bring herself to speak.  
Her mind landed on the memory of that horrid little man touching her, and she shivered in revulsion.  
His voice was barely a whisper, “I spilled the water. I’ll be right back with another glass and a towel”  
Her head shook slightly, and she focused on the water spreading across the floor. It all rose in a puddle and formed an orb. She could tell it wasn’t clean enough to be drunk, so she forced heat into it to kill all the germs.  
Yash his eyes were wide as he watched the orb floating before him boil then suddenly the bubbles vanished as she removed all the heat and small ice crystals spread across the surface he was in awe as the water poured gently to refill the glass that was lying on the floor she even used the pressure of the water to upright the glass.  
After a moment she realized she had probably gone overboard with her powers, and she needed to pull back. She hadn’t even thought about it when she started cleaning the mess. What could you possibly be thinking of her? He avoided her because she was a monster, and here she was proving him right. Her head drooped, and she reached her hand out timidly. After a small sip, she leaned forward slowly and placed the cup on the table.  
“I need to get clean. I’m sorry for putting you out, Yash. Thank you for helping me.” she tried to stand but wobbled back to fall on her butt. Yash was at her side in an instant.  
“I don’t think you should be left on your own yet, Kagome. If you don’t want me here, I understand; But is there anyone else who can come help you?”  
Tears were welling in her eyes. How long had it been since she had someone she trusted? Her head should gently, and she took in a deep breath, releasing it slowly. She forced a fake smile on her face and met his eyes. The deep golden color felt like it could swallow her whole.  
“Don’t worry, Yash. You’ve done more than I could ask for. I’ll be OK.”  
This time when she stood, she kept her balance. She hoped her smile was convincing, but Yash seemed dubious. She walked slowly to her room to get a change of clothes and when she came to the door of her bedroom Yash was staring at her, hard.  
“If you don’t want me here, I’ll go, but I don’t like it. You could have damage from that fucking toxin or something. I think if you don’t want to call someone else, I’d rather stay.”  
Her mouth fell open, and she imagined she resembled a fish gasping for air when it was out of the water. After what felt like several minutes but was likely only a few seconds, she stammered, “you can stay if you want. After my shower, I can find something to eat.”  
He nodded a little then she entered the bathroom closing the door behind her. She removed her clothes and placed them in the trash can. She had really liked that shirt, but she could never wear it again without thinking about that monster who touched her.. She turned the water on all hot. Then brush her teeth until her gums were bleeding. She needed to erase every touch, every false caress. She felt so unclean.  
She climbed in and removed the small ring on one of the snakes, and her disguise fell away. She gently cleaned them almost lovingly, trying not to think about the occurrence on the train. Until she reached the one that had been poisoned, it was still weak, but alive. She felt a tear fall as she nuzzled the creature; it tried to console her as did a few of the others, but it only reminded her of her terror, disgust, but mostly her defeat. She was the child of a God, and she couldn’t stop a human. She finally started scrubbing herself until her hands touched a spot the man had. disgust filled her as the washcloth covered it.  
Daring at the soapy skin, it felt filthy. As if his finger still lingered there. She continued scrubbing until the door opened and a nervous Yash entered. She looked up and he looked terrified. Grab the towel from the hook and try to look away.  
It was at that moment she realized several things. First, she was staring up at him from the floor of the tub. Second, tears were streaming down her face unbidden. Last, her hands were not clean anymore. She looked at the drain and saw red swirling in the suds, then she looked herself over and her skin was so raw that in many places it was bleeding.

~~~~~~~ 

After that incredible show of power, it was a little befuddling to see her switch to a timid and meek response as she slowly extended her hand for the water glass. Carefully hand it to her and she took a few steps before leaning and setting the Cup down.  
Her words were low, as if she was afraid of his answer.  
“. I’m sorry for putting you out, Yash. Thank you for helping me.”  
She barely has stood before she slipped back onto the couch, and Yash was at her arm to make sure she didn’t bounce off the couch before he made the conscious decision to move. New one “I don’t think you should be left on your own yet, Kagome. If you don’t want me here, I understand; but is there anyone else who can help you?”  
He could smell her tears before he saw them. The turmoil she was feeling marred her beautiful scent, and his demon growled in his head. Then she took a deep breath and calmed herself. When she looked at him, he could see the smile was forced.  
“don’t worry, Yash. You’ve done more than I could ask for. I’ll be OK.”  
She moved to stand again, and this time managed to keep her balance. His demon was practically feral now and as she walked to her room; he took a moment to re-center himself and assert control over his more animalistic side. She came out and he must have looked angry because she tried to smile as if to calm him down.  
His demon inside was making staying calm very difficult.  
“If you don’t want me here, I’ll go; But I don’t like it. You could have damage from that fucking toxin or something. I think if you don’t want to call someone else, I’d rather stay”  
Her mouth hung open, and his ears lowered. Of course, she didn’t want him here.  
“You can stay if you want to. After my shower, I can find us something to eat.”  
His ears perked back up, and he nodded in response. She walked into the bathroom and closed the door. He slumped on the couch and put his head in his hands. His demon for the first time in centuries spoke to him.  
“Come now, you can’t leave that delightful creature in there alone. She needs to be protected.”  
He could almost see the smug smile on the youkai’s face. He growled low as if trying to force his own demon into submission. He lost track of time as he focused on keeping his demon in check. That is, until he smelled her blood coming from the bathroom.  
Now his demon would not be subdued. He opened the door to the bathroom, and steam was filling the room around him.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N I do not own Inuyasha. I just wanted to have fun with some of my favorite characters.

He could hear her heart pounding in her chest. The scent of her tears was mostly overshadowed by the scent of her blood. As the steam filtered out the now open door, he could see her normally milky skin was red, blotchy and angry. The scars on her eyes stood out as a stark contrasting white against her now reddened flesh.

He could feel his demon growling, and one declaration was made as if to explain: “Must protect what is MINE.” Had he not been so keyed up, he might have fallen over at the demon’s thoughts. Thankfully, the thought did not fully register while the young woman was lying naked and bleeding in the shower. Although he could feel himself blush a bit and he cast his eyes down as he snatched her towel and held it up in front of the woman. 

She stared up at him with big doe eyes, as if her mind hadn’t clicked yet why he was there. After she made no move to stand, he reached over and turned off the faucet, then draped the towel over her covering her small form. He gingerly knelt down and lifted her into his arms and carried her into her bedroom, setting her gently on the bed. A snake stared at him the entire time he carried her, as if preparing to protect her. After he set her down on the bed, he went back to the bathroom and retrieved her night clothes, grabbed another towel, and searched for a medical kit to no avail. He did manage to find a small box of bandaids and antibacterial cream but that was it.

He returned to her room and used the extra towel to help her dry off around the towel wrapped around her, and then tried to find the worst red marks to apply the cream and bandaids. Her eyes seemed vacant and the tears had finally stopped. But the lack of tears did not appease his demon especially with her seeming so vacant. He tried to speak to her, but she didn’t seem to hear him at all. It was as if her mind had left her body. He took a deep breath and decided to get her dressed and make a pot of tea. He spoke to the snakes as calmly as he could, since she wasn’t responding. 

“I don’t intend to hurt her, but I need to get her dressed so she doesn’t get cold. I won’t do anything untoward. I just want her to be okay.”

He carefully placed the nightgown over her head around the snakes and struggled for a minute to get her arms through the sleeves. He lets it fall down her body and tries to pull the now wet towel out from under it. It catches under her arm for a minute, but after a little fighting he manages to pull it out without revealing her body to himself again, not that she didn’t have a fucking amazing body. But it needed to be her choice, her decision. She had already had too much taken from her today without her permission.

He brought her into the living room where he could keep an eye on her. He set her up on the couch tucked under a blanket. Her eyes stared blankly ahead. Her breathing was slow and shallow. Her eyes blinked occasionally. She resembled one of the patients he’d seen a few centuries ago who’d had lobotomies. She wasn’t there. He shook his head and went to the kitchen to make a pot of tea. He was able to find what he needed easily enough and came back with two steaming cups. He sat on the floor in front of her and tried to talk to her again.

“Kagome, if you can hear me, you’re safe. You’re in your own home, you’re on your couch. Please wake up.”

She didn’t move. He finally reached up and closed her eyes for her. Maybe she would wake up in the morning. Until then he’d stay by her side. If she didn’t wake up he’d have to get her to the hospital. But she couldn’t go to a regular hospital. Would they let her go to the youkai hospital? Fuck, he might have to call in a few favors. But he would get her in there if he had to. She needed help. He wasn’t about to let her go through this all alone. He sat next to her and laid his hand on hers. He couldn’t figure out how she had so much control over him, and what was more concerning was how she had woken his demon after centuries of it being asleep. She was more powerful than even he could comprehend. She had to be.

~~~~~~~ 

The world felt so far away. She couldn’t bring anything into focus. She could only remember that horrid little monster’s hands on her flesh, his lips tasting her, and his words echoed in her mind. ‘...have a little fun.’ Fun… his fat stubby fingers gripping her against her will… fun. His nasty filthy mouth tasting her lips and flesh… fun. His eyes leering at her like she was there for him to eat… fun. She felt so violated. At least Yash had shown up in time to stop him. She felt herself sigh in relief that help had come. 1000 years ago she would have had no one to help her. Even 100 years ago the only chance someone would have intervened would have been because they thought she was human. Nowadays most people do not step in for strangers.   
She had been trying to give Yash the space he wanted from her. But in the end, he came and saved her anyway. He thought she was a monster, and he was right. She would be leaving Japan soon. She wasn’t safe here. She wouldn’t want to go back to Greece. Perhaps she would have to go back to her first home. That crummy little island. Completely isolated from the world. She was so lost in her own mind that when she felt a thumb touch her skin to wipe away the tears she almost screams.  
She opened her snakes’ eyes and Yash was sitting on the floor next to her.   
“Hey, it’s ok. It’s just me. You’re safe. Do you remember me bringing you home?”  
She thought for a minute and yes, she can remember. Her mouth opened to speak but she can’t seem to form words. She nodded slowly in response instead,sitting up on the couch being careful not to bimp him with her legs. He gave her a quizzical look, then seemed to debate on it for a second.  
She reached out to the table for the cup of tea that is sitting next to him. And that seemed to make up his mind.  
“Kagome, can you actually see?”  
She almost dropped the cup in response, panicking slightly. Her eyes go wide and the scars pull painfully. Her head sunk to her chest and she nodded the tiniest nod. He probably didn’t need or want an explanation, but she felt like she needed to tell someone. Her voice came out gravelly and she felt like she didn't recognize it.  
“I can see through my snakes’ eyes. Once I discovered that, I used a dagger of the Gods to cut mine out, so they wouldn’t heal. I learned the hard way that they would just keep coming back. After having to blind myself multiple times, I found one that would prevent it from letting them return. That was over 2000 years ago.”  
She watched him take in this new information, and seem to chew it over in his mind, terribly afraid of what he would think. She hadn’t told anyone in almost 2 millennia. Would he be repulsed by her? Would he get up and leave? She couldn’t blame him. She was truly a monster. Created by an angry Goddess, even though her mother hadn’t had any choice in the matter of defiling the temple.  
Her voice comes out before she has a chance to stop it, her mind apparently having been made up, “Thank you for all your help, Yash. I guess you’d better go. I have to get what I need packed and prepare for traveling again.”  
His eyes went wide at her statement and the low growl that came from him startled her more than she would have imagined. She had never been jumpy before, but after everything that had happened today she shouldn’t be surprised. Her eyes had widened in response to his reaction, and the scars pulled tight across her face.  
“Yash?” Her voice came out trembling and she loathed herself for it.  
His growling stopped suddenly then his voice sounded bitter and angry as if she had betrayed him, “Why? Why do you want to run away?”  
She stopped for a moment, and realized he was completely correct, she was running,but wasn’t she doing what he wanted. He hated her, and she knew he didn’t want her here in his territory. “You act like I have a choice. They will not stop until they have me, and so long as they know what city I am in, everyone is in danger, including you. Besides you don’t want me here, why are you, all of a sudden, acting like I should stay?”  
The hurt look on his face surprised her but it canished in an instant replaced by an angry scowl, “What the fuck do I care if you’re here? No one should make you leave.”  
She imagined the confusion was evident on her face then it dawned on her. He didn’t know she could see through his disguise. He hadn’t decided she was a threat yet. Her heart broke, she had to be honest with him.  
“Yash, I have something to tell you. I don’t know how to… You know what, I’m just gonna say it. You deserve to know. I can see through your spell. Since the first time I saw you on the subway. Then I saw you again on my balcony. I still don’t know why you followed me home. But I know you saw my true form then. Just as I saw yours earlier that day. It isn’t safe for you to allow me to stay here. I must find somewhere else to go.”  
He growled lowly, though not nearly as visceral as before, “So you’ve seen my true form, and I’ve seen yours. It sounds pretty fuckin even to me. It doesn’t mean you have to fucking leave. It doesn’t matter where you go, it sounds like you’re going to be in danger. You might as well stay where you have people who will help you. Unless you’re trying to be a dumb bitch.”  
Her ire came forward faster than she could control it, and the water from the glass shot out and turned into a sharp point, freezing in midair, and poised at his neck.  
His eyes were wider than she had ever seen them, then a smirk appeared on his face, and she felt something twitch against her stomach. His claws were there ready to push into the soft flesh beneath her ribs. He probably didn’t know he couldn’t kill her. She knew, as she had attempted many different ways in the 2000 years. But she drew back the frozen spike and it melted instantly, flowing back into the glass.  
“Fuck, bitch, why didn’t you do that to the fucker on the subway?”  
Her head dropped at the reminder and she took a deep breath trying to control her emotions, lest she get pulled back into that memory. Her voice was small and ashamed, “I couldn’t find any water. My bottle had been empty and I hadn’t had a chance to refill it when I was trying to get to the subway. I was going to fill it in the station, but since I figured you would be there I went to a different station, hoping to leave you alone, and not make you hate me any more than you already did.”  
She kept her face down, not wanting to see his reaction to her understanding that he hated her. It was one thing to know someone who hated you, it was another to actually like the person who did. And she did like him. He seemed caring and thoughtful. Not to mention chivalrous if tonight was anything to go by. But it was clear how he had avoided the horrific monster told about in scary stories to little children. Was it more than hate? But why had he bothered saving her? What a stupid question. It was still his territory, and he had to make sure if there were dangerous beings in his territory he wanted them to know who was in charge.

~~~~~~~

“Fuck, bitch, why didn’t you do that to the fucker on the subway?” He hadn’t meant to be so damn blunt, but if she had that kind of ability to protect herself, why had she let that asshole touch her? He regretted opening his fucking mouth the second he watched her head drop and smelled the shame fill her scent.  
“I couldn’t find any water. My bottle had been empty and I hadn’t had a chance to refill it when I was trying to get to the subway. I was going to fill it in the station, but since I figured you would be there I went to a different station, hoping to leave you alone, and not make you hate me any more than you already did.”  
Hate her? She thought he hated her? How the fuck could she be so wrong? Of course thinking about his actions over the last two weeks, every single time he saw her he avoided her or she avoided him. Of course she would think that. She refused to look up, even her snakes were looking at the ground. Fuck, he really did fuck this up. His demon was growling so viciously in his head, it was hard to keep from growling out loud.  
He knelt down in front of her, and took a deep breath. He had never been in this type of situation before. He had never met anyone like her though either. He had to fix this. He couldn’t let her go on thinking he hated her. Especially with that sadness marring her beautiful scent. It was sending his demon into a rampage.  
“Kagome, I don’t hate you.” His voice was soft and even, trying not to scare the beauty before him. She had been through enough in her day already. She didn’t need an idiot hanyou making things worse.  
Her head perked up after a second, as if debating on whether to believe him or not.  
“I felt like I had, ah hell, I spied on you and saw something that I wasn’t supposed to see. I felt guilty. I didn’t think it was fair of me, and I was trying to stay away because I felt like I owed you that at the very least. And then after that you started avoiding me, and I figured you hated me. I just kept it up, because if some creepy stalker was staring in my window I would probably hate him too.”  
Her voice was so quiet that if not for his excellent hearing he would have missed it, “I don’t hate you. How could I? You kept my secret, when you had no reason to. You might have been a bit of a jerk in the club, but that wouldn’t make me hate you. Besides after tonight you’ve proven what a good heart you have. You had no reason to save the monster from the hired psychopath. You could have let him take me, and been done and had one less monster in your territory. It would have been easier for you.”  
His voice came out as a vicious growl, that he couldn't hold back. “Don’t fucking call yourself a monster again!”  
She shrunk in response to the words, and her face flinched as if preparing to be slapped.  
He sat there in disgust, what the fuck had she been through that she thought he would actually fucking hit her?!  
The terror and anticipation in her scent nearly broke him, and he grabbed her arm and pulled her into his embrace. Her head tucked beneath his chin and he heard her gasp and felt it against his collarbone.  
“Fuck, I didn’t mean to scare ya. I would never hit ya, Kagome. I’m sorry. You’re safe. I would never fucking hurt you. And I’m not gonna let anyone else hurt ya either. You’re safe. I’m gonna make sure of that. You have my word.”  
As the words left him, he felt her arms wrap around his torso and hold him tightly. He could smell tears on her again, but at least the scent of terror had abated. He wrapped his arms around her tighter and gently lifted her and sat down on the couch with her in his arms. His demon was purring in his head, and without realizing it, he started the same sound. As his chest rumbled with the soothing vibration he felt her body calm down, and the tears stopped. He sat there until her breathing evened out, and he carried her to her bed.  
He began to walk away and she woke up and latched onto him, her eyes wide.   
“Please stay?”  
He nodded and climbed in the bed next to her, holding her close. This was going to be both the most difficult night of his life, if his demon’s reaction said anything, and the best. Her scent was soft and warm, and his entire body relaxed with the way she fit against him so perfectly. He couldn’t remember the last time he fell asleep so easily.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters portrayed herein.

Naraku was watching the young woman get attacked on the subway and couldn’t help but smile as one of her snakes bit his hired man on the neck. The bite was nowhere deep enough to do any actual damage. If the foolish monster hadn’t blinded herself, she wouldn’t be so helpless to his mercenary. But the naive creature decided that blending in was a better option than ruling. She could have been fierce, could have ruled a large part of the world. But she chose to pretend to be a mortal. She wanted to be another pathetic human. Even after they shunned her. She somehow managed to survive after Perseus had supposedly “killed” her. Which, he was very interested in learning how she managed that. But until he got her in his clutches he would have to continue to guess.

His creation, Kanna, stood before him holding her magic mirror that allowed him to see the Monster in her true form, as she struggled to get the fat mercenary off of her. He couldn’t help but grin as Muikotsu touched her and she flinched away as much as the poison would allow her to. Soon, after Muikotsu had his fun, he would have the being that the jewel currently resided in. He had to use a great deal of his power, to create this being who could see across great distances, as well as deduce where the jewel had materialized. It had taken years to acquire the necessary artifacts to perform the spell necessary to locate the jewel’s new master.

The previous Master of the Shikon Jewel had made a wish that the jewel would be with someone who could protect it for eternity. The foolish priestess died painfully after that. He made sure to bring her to the brink of death and keep her there for a lot longer than the average body could take. He was very good at keeping a broken individual alive for a great length of time. He took a great deal of pleasure breaking the woman who believed she was better than everyone else. She had been his for a while. She was how he became such a powerful being as it is. Her name was Kikyo. He had lusted after her and wanted her to become his dark priestess. She could have been his bride and they would have kept the jewel, and used it so she could live for all eternity at his side. They could have ruled the world. Together. But the Priestess decided that she had to protect the jewel from the likes of him and send it where she thought it would be beyond his reach. And it has been 500 years since. 

She had succeeded for longer than he would have liked. He has killed so many priests and priestesses in his search, but to no avail. But they were still useful after all. 1000 holy beings killed, and their blood saved for his magic. That was what it took to create Kanna. The blood of 1000 holy beings, forced to suffer and become defiled before being drained. He watched with fascination. How did the jewel believe this being could protect it? She couldn’t even protect herself. He would soon see, once Muikotsu brought the monster to him then he would break her, slowly. She would suffer at his hands far greater than at the hands of the demigod Perseus. She would know pain, and he would revel in her screams for mercy. Which he would kindly grant once he located the jewel.  
Through the mirror he could see Muikotsu get thrown off the woman and movement from someone else. There was no sound so he couldn’t hear what was said, but it looked as if Muikotsu was begging. He felt himself sneer angrily. If Muikotsu thought he should be begging, he hadn’t seen him mad yet. This hired man would suffer at his hands greatly. He would have to speak with one of the others to get the woman apparently. What a disappointment.

“Kanna, I want to see who Muikotsu is talking to. Stop focusing on the girl.”

Kanna said nothing, but twisted the mirror as if to rotate it and the picture changed. A hanyou, worthless mutt. Silver hair, and filthy dog ears atop his head. The face was a dead give away. This was the halfbreed son of the previous Lord of the West. His half brother, Sesshomaru, now took care of things Perhaps he would have to look into this further before sending someone else after her. Was she being protected by them? If so, then perhaps she could be bought. He would send word to Sesshomaru the next morning.

He continued to watch as the hanyou first attacked his mercenary then lifted his unconscious body from the ground and threw him into the wall of the train car and the car shuddered around them. He lifted his prize and got off at the next stop. Naraku waved his hand to stop Kanna from continuing this. He knew where the girl lived, and he didn’t need to see her go home. His hand curled into a fist. He apparently needed to send a little muscle with Muikotsu next time. Perhaps one of his brothers. He had the money of course. But first he would try to talk to Sesshomaru. Perhaps a deal could be struck. Sesshomaru had no love for creatures that were not youkai. Why would he care about this monstrosity?

~~~~~~

Kagome was fighting. She couldn’t move though. She was struggling to get away from the man holding her down. His fat stubby fingers were grabbing at her flesh and she could feel herself crying, screaming. Anything to make him get off of her. She tried to thrash, but her body wouldn’t obey. Yash had saved her once, but it was unlikely he could do it again. She was going to have to help herself… Her powers reached out for ammunition. Something to stop this greasy, sweaty, little man. She could feel it all around her. Water in the air, in the sky, and the sea seemed so close. She started close and she could hear and feel the water coming closer.

She tried to form ice to hurt him, but she couldn’t hit him. Somehow he was impervious to her attacks. She kept fighting and kept calling more water. She had to stop him! Her snakes were nuzzling her, trying to calm her down, but she had to stop him!!! She could feel the water all around her, her entire body felt wet and cold. Her snakes began hissing and she kept striking at the man. She tried to force the water into his nose and throat but it seemed he didn’t need to breathe. She was going to be taken to whoever it was who wanted to hurt her mother. Finally she decided if she couldn’t hurt him then she would defend herself, she wrapped the water around her leaving enough room for air for a time, and froze it. She formed ice spikes on the outside to ward off everyone and keep her safe. She finally was able to bring her arms above her head and hide, when she could hear Yash’s voice.

“Kagome! Let me in!!!”

He sounded so far, she didn’t know where he was. Then she felt a pinch and her eyes snapped open. One of her snakes had bitten her, not hard but enough to draw a slight trickle of blood. She looked around and she was in an ice shell, and she could feel water everywhere. The rain was coming down in sheets and she could feel a hurricane approaching from the sea. Oh by the Gods, what had she done?

~~~~~~

Yash woke up after a couple of hours and silently climbed out of bed. Kagome was sleeping soundly. He had to take this opportunity to try to figure things out. He would be close enough to keep an eye on her, but he needed to make sure he wouldn’t wake her up. He went out to her balcony, closed the door part way and leapt to the roof right above the doorway. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed his brother. He was the only youkai he trusted to talk to about this. They hadn’t really been best friends, but he still knew he could trust him.

An angry growl answered the phone, “Do you have any idea what time it is, Little Brother? You had better be dying in a ditch somewhere.”

Yash took a deep breath, “Sesh, I’m sorry for calling so late but shit has happened and I needed to talk to you. I don’t have anyone else.”

With those words out, Sesshomaru stopped growling. “This sounds serious. Do I need to come collect you?” Then a loud sigh, “Do I need to post bail?”

Yash couldn’t help but smirk, “No, but I’m glad you offered. Sesh, I almost lost control of my demon today. It’s been centuries since you helped me learn to control it, but today it made it abundantly clear it wants something. I don’t know if I can deny it.”

“Inuyasha, what does it want?” Straight to the point, as usual.

“It thinks I’ve found my mate.” 

Yash felt his head droop after admitting it. He was so ashamed that he couldn’t control the carnal urges of his demon. Even now it wanted him to go back into bed with her and make sure she never thought of any other man touching her again. It wanted to erase the smell of that foul man, and make sure she smelled like him forever.

“Inuyasha, does she have feelings for you? If so, I do not see what the problem is.”

“There’s a lot to tell you, but I don’t know where to start.”

“The beginning is usually the best place, but it is almost four in the morning, so perhaps you can come over before work and we can discuss this over coffee?”

Yash was shaking his head before Sesh had finished, “I don’t think I can come into work today. She was attacked last night. I have to make sure she’s okay.”

“Do you know who the attacker was, Inuyasha? Do I need to put out an alert through the chain to be wary of someone attacking demons?”

Yash almost laughed, “She’s not quite a demon, but she’s not a human either. That is something we’ll talk about in the morning. I just need to know how to keep my demon under control.”

There was a long pause, “Inuyasha, you and I both know that the only thing keeping you under control was the disguise spell, and the tessaiga. I can bring that to you, if I need to. I know you do not carry it around anymore.”

“No, I’ll get it later today. We might need to see about strengthening the disguise spell then. Just something to make sure I don’t end up taking her against her will. But we’ll talk about that later too. There is someone doing some attacking. I will find the fucker. He was in the subway.”

“Hn, I do not understand why you insist on taking that disgusting mode of transportation. It smells like an unwashed gym shower stall. We have more than enough money to buy a car, you can be staying in a much nicer neighborhood as well, yet you still prefer to live in that hovel. You could bring her here, if you wish. No one would dare harm your bitch in my home.”

“She’s not a-” Kagome’s screams rent the air around him, and the rain begins to fall from the sky in sheets. The rain landing on her balcony was flowing into her living room. Once there it began freezing into spikes of varying sizes but all equally sharp. Yash hung up on his brother and leapt down into the living room, avoiding skewering himself. Once there he sniffed for intruders, trying to figure out what or who was attacking her. But there was nothing. No one had entered since he was last in the room, and there was no one else here.

“Kagome!” He tried to maneuver to the bedroom but the doorway was now a frozen sheet of ice. His claws slashed at it, but they weren’t doing nearly enough damage. “Kagome, let me in!” He could hear her fighting someone, but he couldn’t see anything. He continued to yell at her but she didn’t seem to hear him.

All at once everything stopped, the rain stopped pouring, her screams silenced, and the ice in the doorway broke into pieces. She was sitting up in the bed, her eyes wide in horror. She quickly closed her eyes and focused hard, He could hear winds roaring outside now that her screams had stopped. They were coming closer. His eyes widened as he looked out the balcony doorway and saw what she was doing. There was a hurricane approaching quickly. Holy fuck there was a fucking hurricane coming right here, right now.

~~~~~~

Kagome is focusing with all her might. She needs to stop the hurricane before it hits the land. She doesn’t want anyone to get hurt. She can barely breathe with the amount of power she’s exerting.But she needs to save the people she has accidentally put in danger. Finally, she can feel the winds calm, and the water recede. She finally feels the storm’s last tendrils fade, and she falls back onto the bed. Then she realizes she is still in a shell of ice and it’s so cold. She shivers for a moment and Yash is at her side lifting her out of the ice capsule, and holding her close to him.

She takes a few deep breaths and calms herself down, then proceeds to fix the apartment. All the water and ice is taken to the bathtub and melted down. Her bed is now dry and warm. She feels so tired. Before she can say anything, her eyes drift closed and the world fades away.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Inuyasha

Chapter 8

Yash was still holding her body close to himself, he felt like his body was moving in slow motion compared to his mind. After watching her remove every piece of ice and every drop of water with what seemed like ease. He was definitely impressed. Not that he’d ever tell her that. He stared at her soft, pale face surrounded by snakes drifting off to sleep. How had she been powerful enough to create such ferocity? He laid her down on the bed and was surprised by how warm it is even though it had been covered with ice not a few moments ago. Then he remembered her heating the water from the living room and realized she must have used her powers to make sure it wouldn’t be cold. He tried to tuck her in, but her hand began gripping him tightly. After a few attempts to loosen her grip her eyes burst open.

“Yash? Is that you?” Her voice was soft and weak, her snakes hadn’t woken and she carefully raised the hand not clutching to him like a lifeline to the side of his face. Her skin felt softer than silk, and so warm he couldn’t help nuzzling closer to her palm.

“Yeah, you’re safe. Just get some sleep, okay? I’ll be in the living room standing guard for you.”

The terror that flashed in her eyes was unmistakable, but she seemed to get it under control quite quickly.

“Yash, can you just stay in here? I mean… I don’t really want to be alone right now, if that’s ok. I mean…” Her head sunk so that her face was partially mashed into the pillow and she pulled her hand away. “Nevermind. I’m sorry.” Her hand that was gripping his shirt released too, and she wrapped her arms around herself.

Everything in him was screaming to comfort her, but he had no idea how to even begin. It seemed like it took him ages to catch onto her words and actually decipher them. “If you need me to stay I will.” He stood up and sat on the floor against the wall, back straight and eyes on her. “You can rest, you’ll be safe.”

She followed the sound of his movements and still looked directly at him, though she couldn’t see anything. “You won’t be comfortable there, you can come lay here. I mean- nevermind. You can go, you don’t have to stay.” She shook her head as if dispelling her own thoughts and laid her head on the pillow. “Goodnight, Yash. Thank you for everything.”

He couldn’t figure her out for fucking anything. Then he heard his phone buzzing in his pocket. Fuck, he had hung up on his brother. He stepped out of the room but kept the door in sight and open.

“Hey, I’m sorry. She’s having a bad fucking day.”

“Was your bitch somehow responsible for the torrential downpour and storm?!”

Of course, he was smart enough to put things together quickly. “She’s not my bitch! But, yeah. But she stopped it as soon as she woke up. She was having a nightmare. I imagine it’s from the fucking traumatic event of almost being raped and kidnapped.” His voice was becoming more of a growl every second he thought about the occurrence.

Sesshomaru’s words stopped him dead in his tracks, “If you transform now then you will only traumatize your intended mate more, Little Brother. Perhaps you need to get her to safety and away from you. At least until we can get you tessaiga and strengthen the spell. I can send a car to your location, and it will have tessaiga in it.”

“No, I’m ok.” He had barely begun speaking, before Sesshomaru cut him off.

“You are still so foolish, I can barely understand you over your fangs due to you beginning to transform. If she is in need, then you need to provide. I am offering to help you to protect your Mate. Do you truly wish to leave her in danger?”

His eyes were drawn to the creature lying in her bed, she was safe and seemed to be asleep. Her breathing was slow and steady, he stepped closer into her room and her scent calmed his demon to a point.

“In the morning. I’ll text you the address in a couple hours. I don’t want to wake her again. She needs to sleep.”

“Hn, and will she sleep if your demon decides that he is not willing to wait?”

“He won’t. He knows she’s injured and too tired. Her body couldn’t handle it. Thanks, Sesh. I’ll see you in the morning. Please have them send tessaiga. You know where it is.”

“I will see you in a few hours, Little brother. Send me the address and I will be there at 7, with tessaiga. Will you need anything else? A change of clothes perhaps?”

“Keh, yeah. Thanks again, Sesh. I’ll see you in a few hours. Sorry, I woke you.”

“You know better than I do, that I can run on even less sleep than you. This is but a minor inconvenience. And after you assisted in helping me to acquire my Mate almost 500 years ago, I have no problem assisting with yours. Go. Keep her safe from all manner of beasts, including your own.”

He slid his phone into his pocket after the click on the other end signified Sesh had hung up on him, then took a deep breath trying to keep his demon in check. She shifted in her sleep and moaned a little and though he didn’t remember moving, he was at her side in an instant. Her face was pinched, and he gently lay his hand against her cheek. She flinched away for a second then calmed and leaned into his touch. How did this small creature have such a hold on his heart already?

______________________________________________________________

Sesshomaru was snuggled next to his Mate and sleeping contentedly when his phone rang. He grumbled for a moment, then extricated himself from his Mate’s arms to answer the damned device. He was less than thrilled to see Inuyasha’s name across the screen below the time of 3:48 am.

“Do you have any idea what time it is, Little Brother? You had better be dying in a ditch somewhere.” His voice was grumbled and irritated.

“Sesh, I’m sorry for calling so late but shit has happened, and I needed to talk to you. I don’t have anyone else.”

With those words out, Sesshomaru stopped growling. “This sounds serious. Do I need to come collect you?” Then he felt himself sigh, resigned to help his stupid little brother. “Do I need to post bail?”

“No, but I’m glad you offered. Sesh, I almost lost control of my demon today. It’s been centuries since you helped me learn to control it, but today it made it abundantly clear it wants something. I don’t know if I can deny it.”

It was damn near 4 in the morning. Was he really going to try to draw this out? “Inuyasha, what does it want?”

“It thinks I’ve found my mate.” 

He could hear the shame in his brother’s voice and didn’t understand. Even when he had found his Mate five centuries ago he wasn’t ashamed. He was irritated that he had to wait until the child grew up, but it was worth the wait. He glanced over to the small figure snuggled beneath the blankets and smiled. He was very fortunate to have found her.

“Inuyasha, does she have feelings for you? If so, I do not see what the problem is.”

“There’s a lot to tell you, but I don’t know where to start.” 

He was getting frazzled now. If there was so much to tell him, why did he call him at 4 in the morning when it was a bad time to talk? “The beginning is usually the best place, but it is almost four in the morning, so perhaps you can come over before work and we can discuss this over coffee?”

“I don’t think I can come into work today. She was attacked last night. I have to make sure she’s okay.”

“Do you know who the attacker was, Inuyasha? Do I need to put out an alert through the chain to be wary of someone attacking demons?” He made a mental note to contact all of his underlings in the morning and figure out who was attacked on the subway, and get the security footage so he could get the identity and ensure the safety of his domain.

“She’s not quite a demon, but she’s not a human either. That is something we’ll talk about in the morning. I just need to know how to keep my demon under control.”

He debated on what to respond. His Little Brother was obviously very distraught in this whole situation, but all the tools he had available were exactly that, already available. “Inuyasha, you and I both know that the only thing keeping you under control was the disguise spell, and the tessaiga. I can bring that to you, if I need to. I know you do not carry it around anymore.”

“No, I’ll get it later today. We might need to see about strengthening the disguise spell then. Just something to make sure I don’t end up taking her against her will. But we’ll talk about that later too. There is someone doing some attacking. I will find the fucker. He was in the subway.”

“Hn, I do not understand why you insist on taking that disgusting mode of transportation. It smells like an unwashed gym shower stall. We have more than enough money to buy a car, you can be staying in a much nicer neighborhood as well, yet you still prefer to live in that hovel. You could bring her here, if you wish. No one would dare harm your bitch in my home.”

“She’s not a-” A scream echoed in the background then the phone clicked off. Sesshomaru looks outside and sees a storm has appeared as if summoned. Inuyasha has a great deal to explain, he’d better go to his apartment and get Tessaiga. He dressed silently, making sure not to wake his Mate, and left the room. He brewed a pot of coffee and watched out the floor to ceiling windows as a huge storm system was moving in from the sea. It seems his Brother’s Bitch was going to need to be controlled and if Inuyasha was not capable, then they would have to put her somewhere so she couldn’t destroy the entire island. The storm disappeared as swiftly as it formed and he knew he had to get everything ready.

He went to his car and though he normally had a driver so he could continue working while on his commute, he could drive adequately enough. He first went to Inuyasha’s apartment, he had a key for emergencies of course, and collected clean clothes and he pulled the Tessaiga from its hiding place, then went to get something for breakfast. He knew if she was exerting enough energy to both create and dissipate a hurricane she was no mere mortal, but still that had to take a decent amount of energy. He sent several messages to his staff to prep one of his small side houses for visitors. He needed them to be somewhere safe, and then he would figure out if he needed to make somewhere to keep everyone else safe from her.

He received a message from his brother then and proceeded to punch the address into the GPS. He arrived earlier than he had anticipated, but he told his brother he was there all the same.

_____________________________________________________________

Kagome woke up and stretched slightly, her muscles still sore from overusing her powers. The sun wasn’t up but she could hear voices. She stood and dressed for the day, sneaking a glance at her phone. 6:13 am. She needed to get ready for work. She found a towel in her laundry hamper and slightly wrapped it around her head so she could get to the bathroom unnoticed.

Unfortunately, she didn’t get very far.

“Kagome, sorry did we wake you?” Yash was at her side before she was halfway to the bathroom.

“Yash, I’ll be back in a minute. Ya know?” She cocked her head to the bathroom, and he seemed to get the idea quickly enough and stepped away until she went into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. She grabbed the ring and placed it onto the snake closest to her right ear and her snakes turned into black waves that cascaded down her back. Her eyes became blue and clear and her scars faded from view. She rinsed her face with warm water and finished getting ready to go to work. She had to go, she was running late as it was.

She stepped out of the bathroom and went directly to the hall closet, grabbing her coat and stepping into her shoes and heading towards the door. She was trying so hard to not garner the attention of the two men in her living room and knew she was failing miserably. Maybe they would just let her leave? She really had to get to work, and she couldn’t stop and explain to them why. She closed the door behind her and headed past the elevator and ran down the stairs as quickly as she could. She heard her door closing behind her, but she needed to get away from him. He had seen enough of her weakness and vulnerability. She would figure out where she was moving to after work and get her things packed by the end of the week.

She had plenty of money saved up and could easily get access to more if it was needed. She would have to arrange for another identity. Fuck, she really liked it here too.

“Kagome, where are you going?! STOP!”

She barrelled down the stairs, trying to escape him. He seemed to materialize in front of her and she bumped straight into his chest. His arms wrapped around her forearms to prevent her from falling backwards.

“You crazy woman! Where the hell are you going? Come on, we’ve gotta talk.”

She was so distraught; she had to go. She knew she had to go., “Yash, I have to go to work. Just lock the door, I have a key. Just- just go. I’m going to be late for class.”

She tried to sneak past him, tried to get away again, but his arms gripped her tighter.

“Did your brain freeze overnight or something? Now get the fuck back inside for a minute!” He pulled her against him and took one leap and landed back on her floor, pulling her back to her door. She couldn’t pull away from him. She needed to escape before they hurt each other, but she couldn’t convince her traitorous body to pull away from him.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N I do not own Inuyasha

Chapter 9

Inuyasha was standing in the lobby when Sesshomaru arrived. He was wearing a nice black suit with a red and purple tie, and a white button-up shirt. Sesh handed him what looked like a pen, but Yash could feel the power thrumming from it. He must have gotten a spell put on it so he could carry it around.

“Thanks Sesh. Come on, I’ll take you upstairs.”

The daiyoukai followed him up the stairs and into the apartment. With tessaiga on his person, he felt himself regaining his composure after a long evening. Kagome was still asleep in her bed and he sat down on a bar stool at the kitchen island. Sesh sat down next to him calmly, waiting to hear the whole story from the beginning as had been previously decided.

When Yash was not forthcoming with any information however Sesh started to feel annoyed, “You call me at 4am perfectly capable of talking then, but you have nothing to say now that it is a more reasonable hour, Little Brother?”

Yash’s head snapped, he felt like he was in a daze. Then he nodded his head when he realized what Sesh had said.

“It’s a long story, but I will try to keep to the main points. Miroku took me on a blind date the other day and the girl has been showing up everywhere in my life ever since. She’s not human, she’s not a demon. She’s- I looked it up- a Gorgon?”

Sesshomaru lifted one eyebrow, “Do you really not know what a Gorgon is, Inuyasha? They have been in ancient mythology for centuries. What did you do when you were in school? They are a part of ancient Greek mythology. If I remember correctly there were 3. Now, mind you, I did believe they were a myth, but it is unsurprising they exist. We are believed to be folktales and myths. Now which one is she? Wait, how are you not dead? It is said they can turn creatures to stone just to look upon them.”

“Fuck, how in the hell do you know all of this off the top of your head?”

“Inuyasha, I have been alive for centuries. When I first started to find ways to hide in this world I spent time looking for other creatures from other mythology that would have had to do the same thing, trying to find out how they had kept themselves hidden so well. As the current Lord of the West, I have to be able to protect all of our people and for that I needed information. Now please answer my questions.”

Yash just stared for a second. He did that much research? Here Yash thought he was just an arrogant asshole, but he put forth that much effort to protect the youkai in his territory? Fuck, maybe he had underestimated his brother.

“She blinded herself, apparently, many years ago. She’s not any of the three you know. She’s the offspring of one of ‘em. But don’t go getting ahead o’me. So she’s a Gorgon, she has a really good disguise spell, but I could still smell snakes on her. So I followed her home and saw her remove the spell. Once I realized I had seen something I shouldn’t’ve I bolted. But I was getting on the subway last night and she was in a different car. She was attacked. The man said he was hired to collect ‘Medusa’. She said that it wasn’t her, that it was her mother. So apparently she’s Medusa’s child. I brought her here, and put her to bed, but apparently she can control water. I didn’t realize to what extent until she fucking caused a downpour and brought a fucking hurricane. She was having a nightmare, though. She was trying to protect herself from that fucker.”

Sesh just stared at him hard, “It seems you left out an important fact. You seemed to have glossed over the ‘mate’ part.

Yash cringed, “Yeah, she was taking a shower to wash that fucker’s scent and touch off’a her. My demon was practically begging me to go help her. It’s been over a century, Sesh, since I even heard his voice in my head. I thought I was done with this. First, there’s no way she’s gonna wanna be the mate to a Hanyou. Second, she’s fucking traumatized! Why the hell would it even decide she was the one?!”

Sesh just shook his head, “Inuyasha, does she know what you are?” 

Yash shrugged, “She could see through my disguise the first second she saw me apparently, but I don’t think she knows what a hanyou is.”

He heard a long bedraggled sigh from Sesh. They locked eyes for a moment before both their eyes and ears were trained on the movement in the other room. She was awake.

~~~~~~~~

His half-brother was a fool. That was the one thing Sesshomaru knew for certain. But his demon had made a claim, and the poor fool had no idea what that meant. If their father had survived, Inuyasha’s life would have been easier. He knew he hadn’t been very good at this when his brother was a pup, but he had tried to improve over the last few centuries. But now he had to have ‘the talk’ with a half demon that was over 600 years old.

He let out a bedraggled sigh. This was something for later, for now he had to meet the object of his brother’s affliction and see who was targeting her. Why could they possibly want to kill an ancient creature like a Gorgon, especially after so long, unless of course she was not as old as he assumed? He would see.

She attempted to sneak out of the bedroom, as if they didn’t know she was awake. She had a towel wrapped around her head, probably to hide her condition from him as she hadn’t met him yet. Then his idiot half brother interrupted her when she was clearly trying to escape.

“Kagome, sorry did we wake you?” Inuyasha reached her about halfway to the other door, which he assumed was a bathroom.

“Yash, I’ll be back in a minute. Ya know?” She cocked her head to indicate her direction, and he stepped back and was trying very hard not to stare at the door.

“She’ll be done in a few minutes, then we can see about getting this straightened out. So have there been any other attacks? Something I should be looking out for?”

Sesshomaru wasn’t sure what Inuyasha actually wanted to hear. There had been no attacks that seemed connected, and it was likely that this creature had done something wrong and angered someone. But he knew his brother would never accept that.

“Not that I have heard, but i will start doing some research. I want to make sure there aren’t any missing demons or hanyou before I make assumptions. Now are we going to my house to keep her safe? This place clearly has very little protection.”

“Sesh, I don’t know what we’re going to do. I have to protect her. But she doesn’t trust me yet. I kinda fucked things up a bit before all this. I’ll have to talk to her and we'll make plans. I know I ain’t lettin’ her stay here. If I can talk her into it, then yeah, we’ll be taking you up on that offer.”

As Inuyasha was speaking she stepped out of the bathroom and her disguise spell was stronger than any Sesshomaru had ever seen, even he was unable to see through it. She had a great deal of power. She silently stepped towards the entryway, grabbed her coat and stepped into her shoes smoothly and silently, somehow thinking she was sneaking past two dog demons. It was almost laughable. His brother quickly followed her out the door, yelling her name. It was almost childish how quickly he ran to protect her from a nonexistent threat. He truly did find his mate. This Sesshomaru will have to educate the young pup.

He heard them mumbling all the way down the hallway, then Inuyasha returned a moment later with the young lady in tow.

“Are you crazy? You can’t go to work today. You were attacked!”

She began viciously shaking her head, “I have to give a test today and my other class has reports due. I have to go to work. I can’t just hide. I have responsibilities.”

Her scent denoted that she was only partially lying. It seemed when she said she couldn’t hide was when the lies began. Inuyasha sneered, ‘good the pup noticed it as well’. Sesshomaru made it a point to step in front of her and end this farce.

He bowed slightly in greeting, “This Sesshomaru is pleased to meet you. This one does have many questions for you, but also has an understanding that they might not be prevalent at this moment. Your safety needs to be the priority. Please permit this one to escort you both to a safe location where things can get sorted out.”

She stared at him as if he had grown a second head. And his brother stared at him as well.

“Sesh, I thought you had figured out how to speak in the modern tongue, what’s gotten into you.”

With that she looked back and forth from them both not sure what was going on. So she clearly was new to Japan, she hadn’t lived on their little island for more than 30 years or so. At least that was one less question to ask. It seemed easier to get answers by action, when people so often would lie or mull up the information. 

“Inuyasha when dealing with powerful beings one always uses the formal tongue and shows the utmost respect.” He stared directly into her eyes as if challenging her. She had to know he was very powerful. He could feel her power rippling under her. It was an unknown form of power, though. Something he had never come across. 

She passed his next test as well as could be suspected, only stumbling over her words a bit while trying to be formal. She bowed lower than he did and spoke softly but clearly.

“The honor of this meeting is not lost on this Kagome. This one is equally grateful that such a powerful daiyoukai as yourself concerns yourself with this one’s welfare and protection. This one is not worthy of your consideration, but appreciates it nonetheless.”

She remained bowed with her eyes down. She was very good at grovelling. She had met powerful creatures before. More powerful than he, and that concerned him. Especially if it was one of these creatures that now hunted her. 

“This Sesshomaru is honored to assist those in his territory. However, this one needs to know who and what you are hiding from. Is the creature that hunts you dangerous?”

She remained bowed, but shook her head, “This one is sorry, Lord Sesshomaru. The one hunting me is unknown, as are their reasons. This one has been hunted before, but the ones who did so are more than likely dead at this time. It has been close to a millennium since any mortals knew this one still existed, and this one has striven to remain unnoticed by the immortals. However, this one fears that the occurrence last night might have gotten someone’s attention. If that is the case this one would not dare hide behind you. It would place all of you in grave danger. If he did notice he is far more dangerous than words can say.”

“Hn. And who is so dangerous that it should frighten this Lord Sesshomaru?”

She took a deep steadying breath, and a tear trickled down her cheek. “This one’s father. Poseidon.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

Inuyasha felt his eyes go wide. ‘Her father is Poseidon?’ She’s the daughter of a God?’

“Lord Sesshomaru, as you can see, I would never wish to put anyone in danger. It would be better if you let this one leave and forget you met her. She is not worthy of your assistance and she is a liability your territory need not deal with. This one will only complicate matters more.” 

Inuyasha watched as tears dripped down her cheeks. He could smell the terror rolling off of her. She knew if Poseidon found her, he would be completely capable of leveling the entire island of Japan. But she hadn’t done anything. She had been attacked and traumatized. Now he needed to find out more information. Was that how she could control water? She had inherited his powers? How strong was she really? Perhaps she would be a very valuable ally.

“Sesh, Can we take her to your place to discuss things and see about finding some way to protect her?”

“Inuyasha, have you not been listening? She does not know who is hunting her, but she has enemies more powerful than we have ever encountered. My home will be no safer than here. We will have to go somewhere else. Pack what you need. We will get you to a safe location. You may stop groveling. You have proven your worth to this one.”

She stood straight again, but still wouldn;t look him in the eye. Inuyasha practically dragged her to her bedroom, trying to gather clothes for her to pack and rummaging in the closet for a bag.

“Kagome, you need to call the school and tell them you can’t come in. They’ll need to find a substitute.” 

She just stood there staring at nothing, and the tears began falling in earnest. At the scent of the salt, his demon was screaming in his head. He grabbed the pen, but it did nothing to quiet it down. ‘Mate needs comforted. Mate needs protected. Mate needs us.’ He stopped what he was doing and scooped her up in his arms and sat down on the bed. She instantly laid her head on his shoulder and began sobbing.

“I’m so sorry, Yash. I didn’t want to cause this trouble. I need to go. I need to leave the country. I need to get away. He can do too much damage here. Please. You need to just let me go.”

His demon was growling even louder and he couldn’t hold it back any longer. He felt his claws and fangs lengthen. His voice came out in a guttural growl, “Mate will stay. You must stay here. Your mate will protect you.”

He felt her stiffen up against him and her sobs quieted down. Instinctively he nuzzled against the top of her head and he heard her gasp against his chest.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters, I just wanted to put them in some strange situations and have fun with it. You can't stop me.

Chapter 10

Her head was spinning. Mate? What the hell did he mean ‘Mate’? She barely knew the guy. How in the hell could he make such a declaration? Sure she was attracted to him, and even felt drawn to him, but it was nothing more than a crush. She needed to stop this and get away from him immediately. She didn't want him to get hurt in the long run. She managed to stand up, and he followed her. Barely letting her get more than a few inches away. She packed the bag, and, and he just stood next to her, not speaking. She had avoided looking at him at all, figuring he felt as awkward as she did and that's why he wasn't speaking to her. Once she turned to go back into the living room however she saw his eyes were bright red and the irises were blue. He also had jagged purple lines along both cheeks. Her gasp brought him to her side, and he was nuzzling her again.

“Yash? What happened?”

Once those words were out of her mouth Sesshomaru appeared at the door.

“Duck!”

She dropped to the ground, and she watched as Sesshomaru struck him, sending him crashing into her dresser behind him. When he raised his head, the blue was being replaced by gold.

“Sesshomaru, what the hell?”

“Inuyasha, it seems you have completely lost control of yourself. You did yourself a disservice and now I hope that you can correct it.”

With the last words he locked eyes with Kagome, and she flinched at his stare. Her snakes were swivelling trying to assess the threat, but she just felt shell-shocked. Her entire body was exhausted. She carefully stood up and left them both in her bedroom and called her school. Telling them she woke up very sick and wouldn’t be able to come in today, and likely the rest of the week. Then she gathered what money and sellable things she had hidden in the apartment. She knew she would need money to get away. She had to get away from him.

Inuyasha and Sesshomaru spent several minutes making plans and discussing things in length when they heard a door click. At first Inuyasha thought she was just in the bathroom, but he couldn’t hear anything else. After a few minutes, Inuyasha left her bedroom after Sesh told him what he had done in detail. Apparently Sesh didn’t intervene until she seemed concerned. Then he saw the marks and knew he needed to get him to change back quickly. He couldn't believe he had allowed his demon side to say that shit. How in the hell was he going to explain?   
He was waiting outside the bathroom to talk to her, but several minutes went by before he realized there was no sound other than the exhaust fan. Her scent was all over the room, so it was impossible to tell where she went from here. He ran out the door, and Sesshomaru was about to follow him when he burst back in.

“She’s fucking gone! I have to go find her!”

Sesshomaru grabbed him hard and yanked him back over to him. “Stop. If you act this way, your demon will come back out, and you will worsen the situation. Take a deep breath. Go pack your things. I will find her. I can track her scent just as well as you can. I will contact you as soon as I find her. Be prepared to go into hiding.”

Sesshomaru didn’t give him time to argue and walked out of the apartment. He followed the scent down the stairs and down the street. Then he lost her scent. She got into a taxi. This was going to take a while. Perhaps this could be handled easier. He pulled out his cell phone and pressed 3.

“Hello milord.” The voice was calm and collected as he waited for his Master’s response.

“Jaken, I need guards. We have a problem. Send them to the address I messaged you. Immediately. At least 5.”

Kagome got out of the taxi in the downtown shopping district. She walked into one store and purchased a new outfit and wore it out, and a briefcase. She walked into a boutique and purchased some perfume. She sprayed that on herself to hide her scent. Then to her banks. She closed out her accounts. All of them. She needed money to leave the country. Then she was ready to perform the last step. She had to adjust her disguise. She snuck into an alley and twisted the ring on her snake and focused on changing her appearance. Normally she preferred her normal features, but that was not an option. Too many people were looking for her. Once she was transformed she could sneak back home, pack, and leave. She even folded up her cane and walked around as if she wasn’t blind. No one would recognize her. She had to hope and pray this would work.

As she got into another taxi and headed home, she knew she was being watched. Hopefully, they would be wondering why she wasn’t at work and not discover that it was a new disguise. She walked into the building and smiled at the familiar doorman.

“Hello Miss Sango. I believe Miss Kagome is at work. She left an hour ago or so.”

She just nodded, at least her idea worked. She needed her doorman to recognize her, “Yes, she forgot something but couldn’t get out of class. I have a free period though so I came by to help her.”  
She hoped he wouldn’t think her voice was off, and he gave a funny look then shrugged. Apparently, it wasn’t enough to make him wary. She arrived at her apartment and unlocked it. She needed to pack just the necessities. She quickly entered and locked the doors behind her. After a cursory glance, it seemed that Yash and his brother had left. She quickly set about packing things she needed, anything that would be of high value and might need to be sold to get her to safety. And the few items that she cared about. She soon had a suitcase and a duffle bag packed, but she couldn’t carry all of it with her briefcase. Finally she decided to thread the suitcase onto the strap of the duffle bag. Then she wrapped the strap across her body. Once again she touched the ring on the snake. The duffel bag disappeared from view and it looked like she was carrying only the briefcase. 

She cast a last longing look at her beautiful apartment. She loved living here and she would miss them. Then she wrote a quick farewell letter and dropped it into the mail. She couldn’t stand the idea of saying goodbye to Sango like this, but she wasn’t being given another choice. She hoped her dear friend would forgive her. Even if she didn’t deserve it.

She went outside and hailed another taxi. She climbed inside and requested the airport. She had to get out of here immediately. But where was she going to go?

Inuyasha had arrived home in record time and packed the few belongings he gave a shit about. Then threw some clothes in a bag and stormed back out the door. He took the subway back to her apartment only because it was less conspicuous than running over the rooftops in the middle of the day. He arrived there and found one of Sesshomaru’s lackeys.

“Hey, has anyone been in since you got here?”

The man nodded and turned the digital camera to him, “None of them match her description though, Sir.” 

Inuyasha flipped through the pictures until he arrived at a face he recognized. Fuck, she had changed her appearance!

“When did this woman enter and did she leave?”

The man stammered and looked down at his clipboard, “She arrived about 15 minutes ago sir and just took a taxi about 5 minutes ago. They headed that way. But she doesn’t match the description we were given. Should I have detained her, sir?”

Inuyasha stared hard. The man hadn’t known all the facts, “You had no way of knowing, it’s just lucky that I did. She has a disguise spell, she can change it at will. So no, there was no way for you to know. Forward me any more pictures you take today.” With that, he took off down the street.

The taxi arrived at the airport, and she snuck into the restroom. She changed back into her normal disguise and went to stand in line to purchase a ticket. The line seemed outrageously long, and it seemed to take forever.

As she stood there, she glanced around everywhere with her snakes and let out a slight gasp when she saw Sesshomaru staring at her. He was speaking on the phone to someone, but she couldn’t hear them. Fuck, did he recognize her? Of course he did. He was staring right at her. They weren’t going to let her leave. She didn’t even know why. He didn’t know her; he had no reason to care about her. Couldn’t he just let her go?

She let out a long sigh and continued to watch him. The line hadn’t moved an inch. Apparently there was someone up there fighting with the agent. She just shook her head, she was doomed, if he could find her no doubt the man coming after her, could as well. What was the point? She felt her shoulders sag, and she left the line walking towards him. His face betrayed little to no emotion.

“Are you here to take me somewhere?” Her own voice sounded so foreign to her own ears, she sounded as if she had completely given up. It disgusted her.

“Hn. It seems you do not want this one’s help. Even after it was discussed at length. Why then did you agree to it?”

She let out a small sigh, “Do you think I really had a choice? With Yash there, he wouldn’t have let me say no. And when I tried to leave, he literally grabbed me and made me come back. If I stay you all are in danger. That’s not fair to any of you. I know where I can go. I really didn't want to go back, but I will. It's safer that way, anyway. Unless of course you really think kidnapping me in the middle of an airport is a good idea.”

He raised one perfectly arched eyebrow, “I do not understand why you would flee. You do not seem the type to give up so easily. If you have indeed survived for the two millennia that I believe, then giving up should not be your first choice. Why would you choose it? Was it this one’s brother’s words that scared you away? If so, then you should not let him influence you. You must be stronger than he is.”

She just shook her head, “I guess we’re going to your house then. But I am leaving the country before the week is out. I cannot endanger all of you. This is not your problem. You have enough people to protect. You have your family and everyone in your territory.”

“Hn, you seem to forget that you reside in my territory. Why is that? Just because you were not born here does not mean you do not live here. I will not let some other creature threaten any beings in my territory. Now, you will come with me, shall I carry your bag for you?”  
She looked down. He could see through any disguise she wore, couldn’t he? She had been so embarrassed this morning when she didn’t have her ring on when he arrived, but it truly didn't matter at all. He saw through it like it wasn't even there. She pulled the duffel over her shoulder, and he grabbed it easily. He was definitely strong, and more powerful than most creatures she had encountered. He would be an excellent ally, but could she really put so many others in danger because she didn't want to be alone? It wasn't fair, but she really didn't want to go back to solitude on a hidden island. She didn't want to go back to that hidden hell. It had been miserable for an entire millennium. She didn't want to do that again.

She followed him out to a nice car, and he placed her bags in the trunk. They drove to a beautiful estate. The land was gorgeous. The grass was green and healthy, and plants and flowers surrounded a small house. He took her in there, and it disappointed her to see Yash stand the second she arrived. He was looking like his regular self again, but she could still hear him saying those things and it was driving her nuts. He didn’t even know her. He couldn’t make exclamations like that. It wasn’t ok.

She sat across from where he had been sitting and he tried to move next to her, but his brother seemed to glare at him and he sat back down where he was. At least he understood the awkwardness that was this situation. You can’t just tell some woman you just met that she’s your mate. Kagome had been alive for 2000 years. She knew what a mate was to a demon. She knew it was the ‘be all and end all’ for them, but he didn't know her at all.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters.

Chapter 11

Inuyasha got a call from his brother when he was following the direction the cab left in saying he had found her at the airport and to go wait at the guest house. He hailed a cab after that and arrived at Sesh’s guest house before he heard anything. Sesh sent him a text message saying he was bringing her, but she was reluctant to join them. He made tea for them all and waited at the table. It seemed like an eternity before he heard the car pull in, and he was trying to remain seated. But when she walked in, his demon was demanding to be near her. HE stood up immediately, but she studiously sat down across from where he was sitting. He was about to go sit next to her until Sesh glared at him. He took a deep breath and sat across from her. She was avoiding looking at him, not that it should have bothered him. She couldn’t see him with her eyes, so why would she make eye contact? It made perfect sense, with that logic, but he needed to see that she was okay.

“I’m glad you made it, d’ya wanna cup of tea?” He felt stiff and so not like himself. But he had to get her to calm down before he could. 

“This Sesshomaru would like a cup of tea, Inuyasha.” His brother’s voice cut through the room calmly, reminding him that he and his mate were not alone. It also brought him back to the reality that she probably didn’t understand what a mate was and was probably very frustrated about the whole thing. 

He poured two cups and passed one to his brother and one to her. She glanced up at him, “Your name is Inuyasha?”

He smiled softly, “yeah, my father had a good sense of humor I guess. I just shortened it to Yasha to avoid too much detection. You can call me anything ya want though.”

She just nodded stiffly, “That makes sense. I imagine it would be hard to hide in plain sight with a name that is kinda noticeable.”

Her voice trailed off, and she went back to staring at the table. Was this what he had done to them? His stupid demon. If it was a separate entity, he would throttle it. It fucked everything up.

“Sesh, where are we going to be hiding? I know you said you had a few ideas, but I think we’re going to need a place with a very powerful spell. One more powerful than I think we’ve ever dealt with before.”

Sesshomaru only nodded slightly. “Yes, I am aware and I have several people working on this matter as we speak. But I believe it would be best not to discuss it until we are more guarded than we currently are.”

Now, I have lunch on its way, since you two decided to ruin breakfast. Then I have to go to work for a few hours at least. Now, let’s not discuss anything here. I will have you two moved somewhere safe before the day is over.”

Kagome wouldn’t look up. She was staring at the table as if she wasn't in the same room. And Inuyasha was starting to think she hadn’t heard a thing that was said. What was she thinking? Why had she run? Of course, he knew the reason. His stupid fucking demon. It scared her, and decided to go tell her some things she didn’t want to hear. Of course she didn’t want to be mated to a Hanyou. She was the daughter of a God, for fuck’s sake. Why would she think a Hanyou would be worthy of her?

Kagome was sitting with her head down, but her snakes were staring at everything. She was taking in the room and trying to keep her emotions in check. The last thing she wanted was to lose control. And with as terrified and freaked out as she was, she knew if she lost control people would be hurt. But she was stronger than that. She had been controlling her power for over 2000 years. This would not defeat her. She had overcome the loss of her mother and made it for the last several centuries with no one who gave a shit about her. The problem was, that had become the new normal. She wasn’t used to people caring about her. Especially once they knew what she was. Not that that had happened in the last Millennia. And the person it happened to last time decided death was a better option than keeping a secret. So she really had to try to adjust to this.

She sat and waited, trying to think about all the questions she had to ask, like why Yash’s brother was helping her. He didn’t owe her anything. Of course it was clear this would mean she would owe him, and that wasn’t sitting right with her either. She hadn’t been indebted to anyone in a very long time, and she didn’t want to start now. She would have to find a way to pay for his help and ensure she could still leave without problems later.

She could see Inuyasha staring at her. She wasn’t exactly sure what he wanted from her. She was so lost with everything going on; it wasn’t like she had planned this. She had just been trying to actually live her life. She had spent centuries alone on an island after her mother died. She liked people, even if they didn’t deserve it. She did not like the Gods, but that was a valid opinion. It didn’t matter. She had to figure this out. Let’s start small. 

She picked her head up and looked towards Sesshomaru, “How much do I owe you for lunch?” Small. Easy. Start by eliminating the debt. She refused to offer to pay for the cab, since she hadn’t wanted to take it, but was forced to.

“Nothing. I interfered with your plans, as foolish as they were. I will pay for lunch. I am sure your ticket to wherever you were headed would have supplied food. So I needed to take care of what I deemed necessary. As of right now, you owe me nothing. After this week I may barter for something, but it will not be what you believe it to be. In all honesty, money means very little to me, and the greatest thing you may have that I want is knowledge and information.” 

Her head dropped again. Well, at least that would be easily given, but not as easily measured as currency. So he may protect her for a week unto she could arrange a ticket to get back to Greece, then she would have to figure out a way to get back to that stupid little island. Too bad there wasn’t at least internet access there. She would wile away the days with absolutely nothing. She truly wished she wasn’t immortal some days. She would have ended her miserable existence over a millennium ago. Her life had no meaning, no purpose. Even the blade of the Gods that she used to blind herself didn’t kill her. She shoved that thing so deep, hoping to end it all, it took so many times of stabbing out her own eyes to get it to take. Apparently, even her healing powers had a limit.

Inuyasha was staring at her still, and she was making it a point not to let him know she was looking at him. She kept her head down, since he couldn’t see her snakes’ movements. She only hoped Sesshomaru wouldn’t tell him. As she looked at Sesshomaru, she could see he was staring at his phone and resolutely ignoring the two of them, anyway. At least pretending to. She had seen him glance at his brother and then to her to see if they would actually discuss things, but that was not going to happen. Then he stood up, and a car pulled in.

“Lunch has arrived. I had no idea what you would eat, so I ordered many options.”

All of the food took up the entire table and there were still bags of food on the floor. She was blown away. Did he order everything on the menu? And it was all from a very fancy restaurant that she had ever been to. She took a box with chicken, figuring that was easy, and used the chopsticks. She ate in silence as did they, although Yash was staring at her the entire time. She had never felt so watched. Hell, even the creepy guy on the subway blinked. She held back the exasperated sigh as long as she could, but it was starting to break her.

“Inuyasha. Why don’t you go collect her bag from my trunk and place it in the trunk of the other car? Especially since you have decided not to eat. I have to leave after this, and I do not want her to be without all of her things.” Sesshomaru’s voice was even and calm. But left little room for argument. At least that’s what she had thought.

“Keh, you have hundreds of servants. Why should I do it?”

His voice was gruff and irritated, but his eyes at least had left her for an instant and she felt an instant relief. Her shoulders sagged for a second, but he caught the movement and was staring at her again. This was going to be the worst day. Okay, that was an exaggeration. But it was getting so hard to keep her emotions in check like this.

This time Sesshomaru’s voice was not calm or even. “Whelp, you will do as I told you. NOW!”

Instead of an argument, Yash stood up and walked out the room.

“He truly is not trying to irritate you, but I see the effect his staring is having on you. I can also hear it, in the pond out back. Please compose yourself.”

Her head snapped up and she willed back the tears in her eyes. She stopped the water moving in gentle waves in the back. She focused on her tears and gently turned them into ice. They fell into her palm, and she placed them in her cup. This was a nightmare.

“I really think it would be better for all of us if I left. I can assure I can take care of myself despite what Yash has told you. I have been doing it for over 2000 years. I understand that you are trying to keep your territory safe, but if I leave your territory then it is no longer your concern, right?”

She hadn’t noticed he was back within earshot. In an instant he was wrapped around her again, and she could see purple stripes on his cheek next to her face. This was a nightmare, only this one she couldn’t wake up from. 

“Please, Mate. Don’t go…”

Sesshomaru made no move to stop him this time. She could see him waiting for her response over Yash’s head.

“Yash, stop. You don’t even know me. Please, just go sit over there and stop staring at me.”

His demon instinctively tried to do as she asked to a point. He did not return to the seat across from her, but to the seat on the other side of her. He wasn’t touching her or staring at her, but he was not going away. She sighed and shook her head.

“Sesshomaru, is there somewhere I can do research on this ‘mate’ stuff? I am going to need knowledge too it seems.”

“Hn. I will arrange for some books to be brought to the other house for both of you. I think it would be best for you two to both look into this. Inuyasha, I need to speak with you. Come with me.”

Yash continued to stare at his hands but did not seem to acknowledge his brother. 

Sesshomaru’s patience was waning, it seemed. He stood up, grabbed Yash by the throat and launched him out the open shoji door and into the yard. “Excuse us.” was the only thing she heard as he seemed to move too fast for her snakes’ eyes to follow. As she watched without moving, it seemed Sesshomaru was done being kind and gentle to his brother. He was holding him up by the neck and his body was dangling off the ground. Yash’s nails were long claws and were digging into Sesshomaru’s arms. Blood was dripping done onto the ground, but he seemed to be ignoring it. She couldn’t hear what they were saying, but she hoped it would snap him out of it.

Inuyasha’s demon could hear the words being said, but understanding them was a different matter. He trusted Sesshomaru, even in his demon form. He and his brother had solved their problems a few centuries ago. They weren’t friends in so many words, but they knew they could trust each other. Even at his worst, Sesshomaru would no longer hurt him. His voice seemed so far away, though. His consciousness was trying to hear the words, but couldn’t make sense of them.

“Inuyasha, if you continue this foolishness you will lose your mate. There are some things I will have to explain, but until then I need you to regain control of yourself. You will be very regretful if she leaves the country and you cannot ever find her again. Come back to her, so you can truly protect her from the being who is trying to kill her.”

At the mention of protecting his mate, Inuyasha was struggling against his demon. Even with the tessaiga in his pocket, it wasn’t enough. He needed to regain control. Kagome wasn’t in danger. He focused on her scent. It was nearby and a little alarmed, but he knew that was because of him. He needed to calm down.

Sesshomaru dropped him on the ground. Hard.

“Miss Kagome, can you please come talk to him. I believe hearing your voice might ground him. With any luck it might bring him back. His demon is feeling very threatened and my attacks will only exacerbate the situation. Please?”

She wasn’t terrified, but she was far from comfortable with this situation. She stood up and walked over to him. She didn’t want to give him false hope, but she needed him to be in his right mind. His demon was driving him just as crazy as his normal side. Sesshomaru walked away, giving them space to get through things, but close enough that he would be able to hear if things went badly.

“Yash? Can you hear me? Please come back?” Her voice was soft, almost a whisper. But he heard it. His ears were trained on her since the moment she stood up and walked towards them. 

She watched in awe as the red and blue faded back into the soft gold, and she felt herself let out a sigh of relief. This was a nightmare, but at least he was back to normal. She knew what it was like to feel like everything was out of your control; she remembered when her powers were out of her control. Was he feeling the same helplessness? She had to think of a way to help him feel more himself.

“There you are. I was wondering how long you were going to be gone this time.”

“Kagome, I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that. I don’t even know what the hell happened.”

She shook her head, “apparently, you don’t like the idea of me leaving. It makes your other side come out. Too bad he doesn’t seem to realize that he has no power to stop me. If any part of you did, it would be you. I mean- I didn’t mean that. I meant-” she let out a loud sigh. “Obviously, a part of you I don’t know is not going to be able to change my mind, not that I know you that well, but at least we’ve spoken. More than his simple sentences, anyway. Not that I need him to be more vocal, or anything.” She was babbling. Why was she babbling? “I mean, he can speak if he wants to, I don’t expect anything from him, or you of course.” More than that, why couldn’t she stop. “I don’t usually expect anything from anyone. It seems the safest way to not be disappointed. But I can’t say that I would be tempted by someone who has said 5 sentences to me total. one of them was a repeat. Not that I need someone who is eloquent, or anything… Why can’t I stop talking?” she said that out loud. For fuck’s sake. 

Her head dropped again. He hadn’t been staring as hard this time, just trying to follow her train of thought, but his brain was rather fried after his demon had taken over again. His body hurt, Sesshomaru must’ve hit him again. That shit was getting old. But he was glad his brother was looking out for his Mate, even if she didn’t understand it yet. Hell, he didn’t get it yet either. But he would figure it out. He would do anything for her. She was the most important thing in his life now. How could he show her? She deserved to know.

He reached up and pulled her chin up so she was looking at him as he was sitting up on the ground. Then gently pressed his lips to hers. She felt the soft zing of electricity and she never felt more complete in her life. Sure she had had other partners, she was over 2000 years old and sometimes that itch needed scratching, but this kiss was the first time she ever felt anything like this.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N I do not own Inuyasha or any of the other characters. If I did, I still think I would enjoy reading all the awesome stories everyone makes with them though. It's such a testament to how loved these characters are. I would definitely be honored. But I don't own them, so oh well.

Chapter 12

He opened his eyes and found himself staring into the blue eyes of her disguise, and he wondered what color her eyes were before she blinded herself. He knew it didn’t matter. She was perfect, exactly as she was. 

Inuyasha couldn’t stand the idea of her leaving. He had to find some way for her to see that it wasn’t just a fleeting thought. She needed to understand that his entire being needed her. If she left, he thought he might as well just stop living. He needed her in his life. She seemed so unsure of everything. He had to help her to see what she was meant to be. He gently picked her chin up, pulling her to face him. A soft, chaste kiss, just gently pressing his lips against hers. His demon was howling for more, but she needed him to take things slower. He had to do right by his mate. She needed convincing. He could court her. He could do whatever she needed him to do. So long as she never mentioned leaving him again.

Her lips were so soft against his. So pliant to his desires. He wanted to melt into her, but he knew he had to be gentle and slow. She had been through a lot in the last few days alone. He didn’t want to overwhelm her. Then her tongue, so warm, was against his lips as if begging entrance. How could he deny her anything she wanted? He opened up, and he felt her gently run her tongue along his. Her taste was divine. She was more perfect than anything he could have imagined.

His demon tried so hard to take over. To vie for dominance. He felt a slight growl bubble in his throat and her scent changed to a deep musky aroma. Holy shit! She was getting aroused by his growling. Where had this amazing creature been his entire life? He pulled her roughly against him and his tongue plunged into her mouth. Seeking everything she was willing to give. And give she did. She gave as good as he did, and they had to break apart for breath after a minute. She laid her forehead against his and panted slightly. Her lips were a darker pink from the pressure of kissing, and her cheeks were flushed beautifully. He had never seen a more beautiful sight. 

She gently wrapped her hands up around his upper arms, squeezing gently. He pulled her in close and let out a soft sigh. His mate. He had found his mate. Life would never be the same again. And he couldn’t be happier.

“I know there’s a lot we need to figure out, but I don’t think I can let you go. I understand that this has gone a lot faster than you would’ve liked, and I will do my best to go slow. But I can’t lose you. Please. Let me come with you. I don’t care where the fuck you go, I will go with you. You wanna move back to Greece? Fucking fine. I don’t even care if you wanna live in a fucking cave. I just don’t want my life to not have you in it.”

She began giggling, and he felt himself grow nervous.

“Well, I did grow up in a cave for the first several centuries. I was kinda thinking that’s where I would go. But perhaps there’s somewhere else I can hide? Somewhere a little closer?”

He gripped her tighter against him, “I will make sure whoever that fucker is, he doesn’t fucking touch you! You will be safe until the day I die.”

He felt her sigh against his chest, and he knew he was in heaven. She was going to stay with him. He would do whatever he had to do to protect her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kagome could feel a soft rumble in his chest and she felt like she was melting into this man. He didn’t care that she was a monster. For the first time in her life, she felt like she had a chance to belong. It had never been an option before. It was something always denied to her. She knew she was considered an abomination. She knew if the world found her they would find some way to kill her, even if she had never harmed another soul in her 2000 years. But she couldn’t be herself out there. Right here, right now, she could trust this man, this half demon. He was sweet, caring, and he accepted her for some stupid reason.

She hadn’t known this feeling could exist for her. She’d never felt this calm and happy before. She didn't know why he would be so kind to her, or what it was that made him care, but she was so grateful to him for giving her a chance at happiness. A part of her was terrified that it would be ripped away, but she was trying so hard to keep that part locked away. She didn’t want to think about that right now. She just wanted this small opportunity to feel loved. It had been something she’d read about for centuries, and she never thought it would be something she could have. She always thought this kind of happy ending would be out of her reach. But right here, right now, it seemed like a very real possibility.

Inuyasha could smell her emotions cycling through her scent, but the scent of calm was the main one he could detect. He just enjoyed standing there holding her. This was something he never dreamed of. He was a hanyou, someone who wasn’t meant to survive. A creature that was usually killed at birth. But his parents had wanted him. At least that was something he had to fall back on. His mother had loved and adored him until her death, he had been told stories of his father, and he never thought for a second the man hadn’t cared about him. It was hard to say loved when he couldn’t remember him, but he cared.

He was shocked out of his own head when he felt a slight dampness on his shirt. The scent of tears hit him and his brain panicked.

“Kagome, are you okay? What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

His questions were coming out rapid fire, but he couldn’t stop himself. He needed to protect his mate. Against everything and anything. Even if she didn’t know what that meant or how important her well being was. He needed to know she was okay, and a small watery laugh was his first response.

“I’m sorry. I’m fine, just kind of overwhelmed by everything. But it’s a good overwhelmed. Mostly. I just can’t get out of my own head. Can we go sit? I just want to sit for a while.”

He scooped her up and strode over to the couch and placed her on his lap.

“We can do anything you want or need. I promise.”

She giggled a little at that, “Do you want or need anything?”

He just pulled her close to him and whispered into her hair, “Only you.”

She must’ve fallen asleep against him. When she woke up, she was laying with her head on his chest, and his arms wrapped around her. She had been exhausted. She needed a break. A real break. But this had been the best nap she could remember. Most times even when she slept she tried to stay slightly alert for danger. But with him there, she had relaxed completely. It was an amazing feeling. She knew in his arms she was safe. He would never let anything hurt her.

Once she started stirring, he rubbed his hand along her back and scooped her back up.

“You must’ve been tired. We were only sitting here for a few minutes before I felt you doze off. I can only imagine how much energy you used last night, though. So if you need to sleep some more, there’s a guest room we can use. I’ll keep you safe until you wake up.”

Her smile was dazzling, like he had just offered her the world. He scooped her up and carried her to the guest room down the hall. Laying her down and snuggling close to her. He didn’t want to be anywhere she wasn’t. Forever. He knew his instincts were driving him, and it was something she wouldn’t be accustomed to, so he had to try not to overwhelm her with everything. For right now, he would just hold her. Keep her company and keep her safe. She fell asleep in minutes in his arms. His heart felt so full he thought it might burst. Hanyou never found their mates. It didn’t exist for them. But here she was. This perfect creature. She was curled up under his arm with her head on his chest, and he wanted to make her happy. It was the driving force with everything he had to do.

She slept soundly, and he never budged. He kept an ear out for anything coming, but his focus was on her. He dozed off a bit here and there, but he remained on alert to keep her safe. Someone was after her, after all, and he wouldn't let them get to her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Naraku was furious! Kanna was supposed to be showing him Medusa, but her mirror was being thwarted. She couldn't find her. It was as if the bitch had vanished. Taking the jewel with her! He finally yelled for his other slave, and a beautiful woman in a flowery kimono walked in. Her black hair was in a lovely updo with a comb on the one side with jade pearls dangling from it. She had a fan in her obi and her deep red lips were in a smile.

“Kagura. I want you to find her. Remain undetected, but fucking find her! NOW! If you fail me, you will regret it. Do you understand me?”

She merely nodded once and turned to leave. She strode out of their building in the downtown area and she stuck out like a sore thumb. She took a brief moment to feel the wind against her skin before she began walking towards her apartment. They all knew where the monster lived. They had done their homework. She looked human to anyone else, but to those who had seen her true form, she was hideous. She had to hide to live in polite society.

She had been forced to watch when they first found her to make sure it was truly her. Then one night as she was gazing through her window she saw her come from the bathroom. All the lights were off except one small light over the stove in her kitchen. Her head was covered in these slithering snakes and it made her skin crawl. She could barely hide the shudder that rented through her body. Her face was scarred and disfigured, and the snakes were wrapping around her face. How could she stand the feeling of those cold scales against her flesh? It was disturbing, to say the least.

She watched the girl pour water into a glass and take a long drink before leaving the kitchen and going into the bedroom. There weren’t as many windows in the bedroom so it was harder to see, but she could still see her. She snuggled into plush blankets and fell asleep peacefully. Kagura had been so angry. How could this monster look so at peace, when she was a slave to that horrid creature who held her heart? How did she deserve all this luxury?

Today Kagura was walking in the sunlight and enjoying the heat on her face. She knew it was the small freedom she was going to get. She walked to the monster’s apartment and spoke to the doorman.

“Hey there, I am Kagome Higurashi’s sister. I just got into town and I was hoping to surprise her. Is she home, do you know?”

The doorman stared at her in shock. He didn’t believe her. “I’m not permitted to give that information out. But I can call her and let her know that you are here.”

Kagura smiled, trying to seem polite and demure. “Thank you, but no. I would rather surprise her. Is there anything else we can do?”

“Miss, unfortunately, the only option I have is to contact her, and I have to document that you were here. What is your name please, Miss?”

She faltered for only a second, then smiled sweetly. “I’m so sorry, I thought I had introduced myself. I am Higurashi Aneko.”

He smiled and wrote down the name on his sheet and she floated out before he had looked up. She would need to figure out where the monstrosity had vanished. Perhaps she could return after night fell and sneak in through the balcony. She disappeared in an alleyway and thought hard. She couldn’t go back empty-handed. Naraku would have her head on a platter. 

She ducked into a corner and stayed quietly hidden, letting time and the people around her pass her by. She waited patiently, and she knew Naraku was watching her. She could feel when Kanna’s mirror landed on her. She had learned to hide the grimace that it brought to her face. She remained stoically calm and stared at the sky as the light blue gradually darkened. As a few stars finally popped up, she stood back to her full height and stretched her long willowy limbs. She grabbed onto the fire escape and climbed up to the roof of the building next door. It was only two stories or so. Then she pulled the feather from her hair and she soared silently to the balcony she knew led to the monstrosity’s apartment.

As she entered silently, her eyes searched the place for any sign of where she went. After spotting nothing at a cursory glance, she began searching in earnest. Still keeping her every move as silent as the dead. She found nothing. It seemed it didn’t matter what she did, she was going to be punished. There was no trail to follow. There was no lead. The monster had vanished and hidden herself in a place they couldn’t see. Then it dawned on her. That was her key. She left through the balcony and flew home, enjoying the wind on her face. She now had a way to save her own life for a while longer.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Can Inuyasha and Kagome stop fighting? It does not seem likely. I am way too mean to just let them get along. Not even sorry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters. I just had a fun idea and I am running with it.

Kagome woke up against warm skin that was soft on top, but had a defined layer of muscle rippling beneath the surface. She also realized that she had apparently drooled on said skin while sleeping. As she lifted her head her vision was met with soft gold and she melted a little. He had held her the entire time she slept. Apparently, he had gotten a little warm and removed his shirt, but he had held her again afterwards. It seemed like such a long time since she had been held and she almost wanted to cry.

Unfortunately, his enhanced senses picked up on it, and a look of concern overtook his face.

“Hey, come here. I’ve got you. I don’t know what you were thinking about, but you’re safe. I promised I’d protect you.”

His arms wrapped tightly around her, and she knew in that instant that she was more safe than she had been for the last two millennia. She felt herself sigh against his chest and she realized her arms were wrapped around him too. She hadn’t let anyone get close to her since her mother died. She never let others touch her. It was part of keeping herself safe. But somehow he had managed to knock down all of her walls she had spent over 2000 years building, in a matter of days. Why did she trust him so implicitly? And by the Gods, was she going to suffer for it? She really didn’t think she could handle it. 

His hot breath against her neck sent shivers down her spine and she felt her thighs clench in response. She didn’t feel like she had much control when a soft moan escaped her lips. Then she felt a soft rumble and she could barely control the need it seemed to awaken in her. She needed to get herself back under control. And quickly, before she did something she might regret.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Inuyasha was lying in bed and dragging his fingers across her back. He loved the feel of her against him, and his demon was purring in his head. So content to have his mate with him. Then she began to stir, gently raising her head, and wiping the drool from her chin and from his chest. He just smiled and let her go. He couldn’t care less that she had drooled on him in her sleep. Then he could smell her emotions change, not quite a deep sadness, but a sadness all the same, and then tears.

“Hey, come here. I’ve got you. I don’t know what you were thinking about, but you’re safe. I promised I’d protect you.”

He wrapped his arms around her again, and her arms went around him in response. He placed his head against hers and his nose was on her neck, right behind her ear. She smelled so good, and he took a deep sniff and let it out slowly. Then he felt her shiver. He was trying not to growl, but her scent took on such a deep smell of arousal. Then she moaned. He pulled back the growl to a low rumble, but he couldn't stop it completely. She smelled so fucking good. He felt his groin tighten in response. He wanted her so badly. He had to behave. She had been assaulted less than 24 hours previously. She didn't need him thinking with his dick!

He took a deep breath but when he released it slowly, he must have breathed it into her ear because she let out a tiny whimper and then rocked against him. FUCK! She was teasing him. Holy hell. What was he going to do? His demon was back and no longer purring, but growling loudly. Then she rocked again. He couldn't think. He needed her. He needed her badly.

~~~~~~~~~~~

She could barely hold back. He was so sexy and sweet. His arms were caressing her back and she needed them somewhere else. She needed him to touch her. She dragged her hands down his back and then around his sides. Then up and down his abs. His muscles were perfect. She couldn't help but trace the lines of his pecs and then gently rubbed her thumb across one of his nipples. His rumble got louder and deeper. She could feel her panties getting wet in response. She was going to have a hard time telling herself no.

Then his hand snaked around and molded itself to her breast. She moaned loudly. And his lips latched onto her neck. His kisses were soft, and his tongue and teeth were gently dragging across her skin. It was too good. How could she stop? Everything about him felt perfect. She hadn't been this attracted to someone in centuries, if ever. She wanted him to touch her everywhere.

~~~~~~

He was so lost in the feel of her. Her body pressing against his, it was enough to leave him breathless. All of his senses were on this beautiful creature in his lap. A soft knock on the door stopped everything. She pulled away as if she had been burned. And it broke his heart.

The knock on the door sounded again and Yash stood up and went to answer it. A slightly snarled, “what?” came out before he could stop it.

Sesshomaru paid it no mind and strode in purposefully. He stepped closer to the woman huddled in the corner of the couch and stopped short with a piece of paper in his hand.

“It seems we were correct to be concerned. Your apartment has been broken into. And luckily for us, I have better sentries than they do. We have a picture of the culprit. We're running her image through the databases but so far no one knows her. She's a demon but we're still guessing that she is a pawn. It seems unlikely after hiring one mercenary that the perpetrator would just come out so easily."

He turned from her smoothly, "Inuyasha, do you recognize this woman or the scent?"

He handed over a photo and an article of clothing. The main scent on it was Kagome’s, so it must’ve been hers, but there was another scent on it as well. He tried to place it and it did smell slightly familiar, but he couldn’t place it. It was different somehow. The picture had a woman dressed in a kimono that he didn’t recognize.

“I don’t recognize the scent. It seems a bit familiar, but it’s not the same and I can’t place it. Nor do I remember seeing the woman in the picture, but Kagome might.”

As the last line was uttered he heard a slight gasp and realized what he had said. Fuck, he was an asshole. He had just given away her secret. Again. He needed to stop doing that. First, he outed her as a gorgon to his brother, which was a dick move but still necessary, and now he just told him that she could see. It seemed that all of her attempts at protection were just nonexistent with him. 

“Do you mean to tell this one, that she is able to see? This one recalls she had blinded herself to protect the innocent. Was she somehow able to remove that part of her curse and still maintain vision?”

He heard her let out a long, drawn-out sigh behind him. Her voice was soft and defeated. “No, I am still, actually, blind.” 

She reached up and removed the ring around her snake’s neck, and her onyx waves vanished, suddenly replaced by the black scales that shimmered with a blue sheen. They nuzzled her hand lovingly, and she rubbed them affectionately.

“I discovered a long time ago that I could harness their sight. It’s hard to focus usually, since you are looking through so many eyes, but I can see. Though not like everyone else can. I can take a look at the photo though, I can also see if my snakes might recognize the scent, but I have never tried to do that before.”

She placed her hand out for the items and waited patiently. He watched his brother sneer for a second, irritated that he had not been given all the information when he felt it would have helped him, but Yash just felt like an ass. He didn’t deserve her. She was going through something terrible, and he just kept hurting and betraying her. She had never told anyone her secrets in 2000 years and now she told him and he’s already blown both of them in less than a day. She took the items and split them one in each hand. She lifted the piece of cloth towards her head and let several of the snakes stick their tongues out and taste it. A few seemed bothered by the situation but most of them just took it in stride, as she kept the picture in her left hand, studying it carefully.

“I don’t know her, but the scent is somewhat familiar, but it’s not the same. It has a different quality to it. I can’t explain more than that. It’s not quite a conversation, more like a feeling. They can recognize it to a point, like it might be related to someone who has a similar scent, but not this person. Sorry, I couldn’t be more helpful.”

She hunkered down deeper on the couch, but this time she kept the ring off and continued to pet and rub her snakes. They all seemed to wait patiently for their turn for attention. They were a part of her, but not quite. They weren't pets either, though. Yash had no idea how to describe the relationship she had with them. They loved her rubs, though that part was clear. They enjoyed getting her attention and not being trapped in a disguise. He wondered what it felt like to them. He knew his ears were hidden in his disguise, but this was like hiding an entire being. Did they resent her for having to hide them? Did they have those kinds of emotions? He would have to ponder this some more, maybe after things were safe and his mind was free to ponder.

Her voice cut through the silence, “Was anything taken, do you know? I know I can’t go back there, but I’d rather not lose everything I have, if I can help it.”

Sesshomaru stayed absolutely still for a moment, “She did not take anything that we saw, and we were watching. If you would like I can hire movers to bring your things to a storage facility, and you can retrieve it at a later date. I would not want her to find you so you cannot go back there at this time. I can however get you to a safe location where you can wait until we get this all figured out.”

Kagome just nodded, never raising her eyes from the floor. Of course, she probably didn’t want anyone to stare at the scars that marred her beautiful face. She had to hurt herself so terribly in order to remove that part of the curse. How she had the strength to stab out her own eyes over and over, he’d never know. But she was definitely the strongest person he could ever remember meeting.

“Thank you, Sir. I appreciate all of your help. I know you have no reason to do so. If I can repay you, in any way, just let me know. It seems you have amassed great wealth so I doubt money is in order, but I suppose with my unique skills I can find some way to make it up to you, can’t I?” She laughed but Yash could tell it was watery and fake. It broke his heart to hear her sound so defeated again.

“If this one has need of your assistance you will be informed, however, as for right now, you are in this one’s territory and we can not allow things to happen out of this one’s say so. The one’s acting out of turn must be punished before they do something that will hurt others. You are not indebted to this one, yet. I will see to it that a meal will be sent up. Do you have any specific requests or requirements for your meals?”

She smiled a small but genuine smile, “Thank you, sir. No, I think I would be fine with anything.”

A small nod to her and he began to turn away. Then he made eye contact with Yash and jerked his head towards the door. Yash followed him into the hall.

“Is there some reason you didn’t tell me she could actually see? Was it a part of her blending in?”

Yash felt his shoulders droop. How could he actually answer that? “I was trying not to give all of her secrets away, but I fucked that up obviously. It was her secret to tell. I already blabbed to you about her being inhuman. It didn’t seem fair to tell you that one too, and I didn’t think it was pertinent. I think it takes up too much of her energy to see through their eyes and so she doesn’t do it all the time. It’s more of a reflex when she needs to, but I really don't know. If I find out anything I will let you know, but I really don't want to betray her confidence, or blow every secret she tells me. Although, to be fair, she's told me two and I’ve already blown them both. She’s not likely to trust me again. I’m such a shit.”

Sesshomaru was staring at him as he ranted, then delivered a soft, “hn.” in response.

“Inuyasha, does she know any of your secrets? Perhaps if you would like to maintain her trust, you should start by trusting her. I know you do not often speak of things like that, but if this woman is to be your mate, she deserves to know all of the details of your 550 years. That way she will know you trust her with your secrets. You have taken all the power so far and left her very vulnerable. SHe was already in a vulnerable position. Perhaps you need to give her some of the power back, so to speak.”’

Yash felt his jaw drop open, “Sesh, holy shit! That was brilliant! Yes! Of course, that’s what I have to do. I have no idea how to start, but that’s what I have to do. Thank you. Can I just say, Rin has softened you up a lot in the last few centuries. I owe her a thank you. I doubt we would be friends if it wasn’t for her, ya know? I’m glad you found her. She’s been good for you. Thank you for helping me to try to get that. I know that’s why you’re helping her. But it means a lot to me. So, thanks.”

Sesshomaru rarely smiled. But the slight twist of his lips was enough to make Yash break into a grin.

“Inuyasha, I know that in the past I have been unkind towards you. I regret that I acted in such a manner. I also know that when Rin and I have children, they will be hanyou. I would like them to know they too will have a place in this world. If to start seeing that change I need to work towards it, then so be it.”

He turned and walked away, leaving Inuyasha floored. His brother never spoke so openly about these things. He didn’t even know how to respond to that kind of sentiment from his normally stoic and reserved brother. He turned silently and reentered the room where Kagome was waiting for him. She still sat huddled on the corner of the couch, trying to make herself small and petting her snakes. As he entered the one looked up at him and seemed to glare angrily. Maybe they could understand more than he realized, and he had just betrayed their mistress. How in the hell was he going to fix this?

~~~~~~

She couldn’t believe Yash had just blurted that out. Wasn’t it enough that she had trusted him with her secret? Did he really have to tell his brother too? Maybe she was wrong to trust in him. Maybe she was just lonely and scared. She allowed his desires for her and his attractiveness to color her perspective. She refused to put her spell back on. It wasn’t what she wanted. 

She knew she was a monster. Perhaps if she could remind him of that, he would keep his damn hands off her and stop trying to make her feel so good. He couldn’t protect her anymore than he could keep her secrets. She was going to have to leave. He had made that absolutely clear. The one person she wanted to trust had broken that trust twice in less than a day. Sure, it was a mistake this time, but she knew he didn't go blabbing about his disguise to everyone he knew. But maybe it was because it was his brother. Maybe they had no secrets, and so it was just natural to tell him everything. But it wasn't his secret to tell. He had already called and told his brother about the monster he’d saved on the subway and sure it had been a good decision at the time, but didn't she have a right to make some of the decisions about her secrets and who knew them?


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters. I just had this crazy idea, and I wanted to see them handle it

Chapter 14

Yash reentered the room, and she studiously ignored him, making sure not to show any notice. Her snakes however were not of the same mind. She could feel them glaring at him, and then she heard one hiss. It took everything in her not to chuckle at their protective antics. They had been a part of her for so long, and she loved them. They were like her children, only they were the same age as she was. They were her closest friends, and even though they couldn’t speak, they could relay emotions and some basic thoughts back and forth. She tried to hush them in her mind, but they were mad for her. They knew he had hurt her. She guessed the only consolation was that Sesshomaru had knocked when he did, or else she may have given Yash too much. She would have given him more ammunition to hurt her.

She had clearly given him more than enough of that already. She didn't look up, merely stood and walked into the bathroom connected to the room they were in. She was debating on whether a nice bath would soothe her or not, but she knew she didn't want to be in the same room as him for a while. At least in here he wouldn’t follow.

She sat in the empty tub and turned the water on for a trickle. She played with it to keep her mind busy. Gently swaying and lifting it. She needed to stop thinking, but that wasn’t an option. She had left behind everything she knew and was thrust into a house with a bunch of strangers and someone she wanted to trust but doubted she could. She hadn’t said anything about his disguise or his abilities to anyone. Not that she had anyone she trusted, but still. It was the principle of the thing. He called his brother to tell him he was with the monster. Then he blatantly blabbed right in front of her about her being able to see.

She wasn't sure how long she sat in the empty tub. But after a while, Yash knocked on the door. “Kagome, the food Sesh sent is here. I can leave it on the table and come back later if you want me to. You’ll still be safe here.”

She could almost hear the whine in his voice. And even though he hurt her, it broke her heart a little. She stood and stepped out of the tub, turning off the water and allowing the ball she had been playing with to go down the drain. He hadn’t meant to; she saw that, but still. How did he live so long with no self control? Or was it just because he trusted his brother implicitly? Maybe she was overreacting. It’s not like he told the attacker who she was. But still, it hadn’t been his secret.

She stepped out of the bathroom, still leaving her disguise off and hoping he would give her some space. She didn’t know how to feel about him right now.

“You don’t have to go. Just eat. I don’t feel very hungry, anyway.”

Yash shook his head, “Sesh sent over some good food, at least have a few bites. It’s been a while since you ate anything. Seriously, if you want me to go, then I will. I know I said something stupid. I am really sorry. I don’t even know why it slipped out. I really didn’t mean to tell him.”

His ears were drooping on his head, and his eyes looked so sad. She didn’t know why his pain and sadness hurt her so much. It was ridiculous. She barely knew him, and she didn't owe him anything.

She huffed but slumped on the couch still avoiding lifting her face towards him. She didn’t need to do that in order to see him, and he could see her, not that she wanted him to look at her scarred face, but maybe it would be enough to get him to stop looking at her with such desire. Maybe she would have to change her disguise so he would stop looking at her like that too. Perhaps that was another option anyway. If she could change her disguise completely perhaps the person hunting her wouldn’t find her. Perhaps she could contact the witch and have her change the actual spell a bit and it would help her hide.

It had been over 1500 years since she last saw her, but she knew that witch was very powerful. She doubted she was dead. She had helped her twice in her life, both times she had been paid well. Maybe she could do it again. She had the resources and plenty of ways to pay a witch, now she would need to find her. She pulled the ring out of her pocket and held it to her heart. The witch had told her how to h=find her. She had put her signature into the ring and it would lead the girl to her. Always.

Her head lifted, she wanted to tell him, but was he trustworthy? Would he run to his brother and blab everything? She wanted to trust him. But she didn't think she could. Her head dropped. She would wait until everyone was asleep and leave. She had to find the witch. And she obviously had to do it alone. How else would she be able to protect herself. She couldn't rely on the yokai to protect her forever. She had been taking care of herself for over 2 millennia, she didn’t need anyone.

She sat forward and grabbed a styrofoam container of food and popped the lid. It was filled with dumplings. She dug in heartily. After she ate more than she should have she stood up and stretched.

“I think I’m gonna turn in, is there somewhere I can sleep?”

Yash just stared at her for a second, “Kagome, it’s 2 in the afternoon. Do you mean you’re gonna nap, or are you really going to bed?”

She swivelled the snakes’ heads and looked out a window. The sun was shining and the sky looked bright. Huh, she must’ve been more out of it than she thought.

“I guess nap, then. I just feel tired. It’s been a long couple of days. I’ll be up in a few hours, I hope.”

Yash nodded but looked like he didn’t believe her. He stood up and walked down the hallway. He opened one of two doors, revealing a plush king-size bed and a dresser. It had a sliding glass door that led to a small porch that was letting the sun filter in. She entered and opened the sliding door, reveling in the breeze it let in. She saw him give a small smile as she twirled in the fresh air.

She plonked on the bed and faced the outside. She knew she wasn’t going to sleep. Now she just had to figure out how to get out of here without being noticed.

~~~~~~

Yash shut the door and left her to sleep. He could smell that she was lying, but he didn’t have it in him to call her out on it. At least she had eaten something. It had been a long few days, though. She was stuck in a house with him and a bunch of strangers. Someone was searching for her, and they didn’t know what they wanted. It was a nightmare, and he didn’t know how to protect her. And now, because he had been the biggest idiot of all time, he had betrayed her trust and she didn’t even want to look at him anymore. How in the fuck could he fix this? This might have been beyond his capabilities to repair. But he needed her. If she didn’t want him, he doubted he’d be able to get his demon to understand.

He arrived back on the couch and turned on the tv, keeping one ear trained on the room in the back. He didn’t know if she was really tired or just trying to avoid him, either seemed possible, but he needed to keep her safe. No matter what. He flipped through the channels until he landed on an action movie and half watched it. Then he pulled out his cell and scrolled through social media. The tv was a good distraction, so he wasn’t basically stalking the woman trying to sleep in the other room. What a bastard he was.

~~~~~~

Kagura had arrived back at the lair believing she had been unnoticed. In all pretenses she had failed, but she had come up with an idea. She approached Kanna before going to Lord Naraku’s chamber.

“Kanna, can you recognize the signature of the blocking spell?”

Kanna stood with no emotion on her face, “Of course I can, Kagura. Why would you ask such a question?”

Kagura let out a little sigh. How was this child so petulant? “Is there any way you can look through the city for a matching block and then I can search in one of those places? There was no hint as to where she went at her apartment. I am hoping this may give me another lead.”

Kanna nodded her head and lifted her mirror up a little higher. Kagura could see a bird's-eye view of the entire city, and there were several places that seemed shadowed or murky to the mirror.

“I will mark the places that are using the same cloaking spell. However, it might have been purchased from a witch and there may be several. I can sense at least 10, I believe. But if it will give you some places to look, Lord Naraku will be pleased.”

She took a piece of paper and wrote down the locations and handed that over. Kagura took it gratefully and went to speak to Naraku. He would be angry if she returned and didn’t check in.

As she knocked on his chamber, she heard an angry attempt at a growl, “This better be important.”

She opened the door and kneeled just inside the doorway. His voice took on a greasy undertone, “Ah, Kagura, you have returned. And where did my little prize go?”

She flinched for a second and raised her eyes slightly, “My Lord, I did not find any clues to her location at her apartment, but I did have an idea. I spoke to Kanna already, and she has helped me find some possibilities so long as she is in the city.: She pulled the folded piece of paper out. “I had her match the cloaking signature across the city and I will go check all of them.”

Naraku smiled, “Well, well. Aren’t you a smart slave? Then go. Find her and bring her to me. If you can not extricate her easily, then come back and I will send in someone who can. But if you find her, we will consider your job a success.” As she looked back up she saw 3 naked women lying in the bed, one was most certainly dead and the other two looked beaten and broken. She didn’t dare to say anything else. She bowed her head and left without turning her back to him. She had been one of the women in his bed too many times. Luckily, she had never ended up dead. She was too valuable. Lucky her.

~~~~~~

Kagome waited what felt like forever, but was actually only about fifteen minutes. Then she stood as quietly as she could. She ventured to the sliding door and stepped out. The air was crisp and clean. She could see a garden and a hedge maze not too far away. She placed the ring on her snake so that she could fit in and possibly escape. She searched the grounds looking for a female. She could change some of the basics of her disguise, but mostly it was her body. It was her face shape. If she could make some minor changes, she might be able to look like someone else, but it took a lot of power.

She finally saw a gardener. She focused on their features as best she could and then touched the ring, imbuing it with her power. She felt the disguise change and morph around her. She stepped out and went the opposite direction of where the gardener was sitting and pruning. She couldn’t let them see her. She walked around the house and saw the gateway. Damn, did they have a long driveway. It was going to be hard to not get noticed. She tried to make herself look like she belonged. But walked at an even pace. She wasn’t stopped by anyone for the first several minutes until.

“Aoi, hey. Where are you going? Did you change clothes? Why aren’t you in uniform?”

The man looked puzzled, and she knew she was stuck. Her voice wouldn't match. What could she do? Then the thought struck her. She ran to the bushes and pretended to vomit. If she was sick, he would assume she had changed her clothes because she had gotten them filthy. If she was sick, it would explain why she was leaving, and if she had vomited in her car, it would explain why she wasn’t in it. Lastly, why she wasn’t speaking.

“Oh, damn Aoi. Do you need me to call you a ride?” She grunted a nuh uh, and fake coughed a few times. Coming out of the bushes and wiping her mouth on her sleeve.

She spoke low and tried to keep her voice deep, “I have to go.” and she turned around and left.

The man didn’t follow her, and she was so relieved that the ploy seemed to have worked. Perhaps she could get out of here and home without being noticed.

She reached the end of the driveway and there was a guard there checking the gate. He nodded at her and was about to open the door, when his earpiece buzzed. 

“I’m sorry Miss. Lord Sesshomaru would like to speak to you before you leave.”

She began to fake gag in order to try to trick this man too, but he offered her the waste bucket and didn’t move anywhere else. Damn. She shook her head and took a deep breath.

It only took a few seconds before he arrived. She was able to see through his disguise easily, “So you have decided our hospitality is not what you want?”

She felt her shoulders slump. How could she tell him that she couldn’t trust them? They hadn’t hurt her. They hadn’t done anything other than talk about her behind her back, which bothered her, but didn’t do any harm.

She didn’t respond at all. “Hmmm, it seems you do not yet know. It seems the idiot failed to do as this Sesshomaru bid him. Or perhaps the damage was already done, and you did not give him a chance to try to correct it. Either way, you are no prisoner here, but if you leave, you will no longer be under my protection. You will be completely alone. As I am sure you have been for the entirety of your existence. So perhaps to you it is not something you care about. However, for this one’s idiot brother it matters. You matter. A demon’s instincts are clear. You belong to him, he must love, cherish and protect you. And now you are not letting him do what he feels he must. You have taken away his choices just as he has taken away yours. However, he did it by accident. You are doing it out of anger and spite. I wonder which is worse.”

Her head raised up in a challenge, “It’s not spite! I had an idea, and I needed to try it. But since he can’t be trusted with secrets, that meant I couldn't tell him. The last time I trusted him, he decided to instantly tell you. Why should I tell him anything? He doesn’t deserve to know my secrets. And who asked for your protection?”

“He did. He asked me to protect you. And even though he is an idiot, he is still my brother. Yes, he made a mistake, but he did not intend to betray your trust. You, however, intend to do so. By leaving here like this you will alert anyone looking for you that this is where I live, and I can not allow that. I still have secrets of my own, you know.”

Her head dropped back down. He hadn’t done it on purpose, and no, she hadn't asked for protection, but he had protected her. When she needed it most. He had been there to save her. And here she was sneaking out, trying to get away.

“I remembered something. I wanted to see if I could find the witch that made my disguise spell and adjust it or add a cloaking spell to it. I figured that way I wouldn't have to hide.”

“You told me, you didn't know where she was. Were you lying then?”

“What? NO! I remembered that she wove her signature into the ring and that if I needed to find her I could follow it. I was going to try. You already seem to know all of my secrets. Can I go now?”

He shook his head, “I already told you I cannot allow you to simply walk out. I will have to drive you so you cannot give my location away. But I will have a car brought around. You should change out of Aoi’s face. It doesn’t suit you. If you would like to change your disguise I can help you, also if you would like to meet one of my sorceresses they can possibly give you a temporary cloaking spell. Which would you like to do?”

She was floored. She had been about to leave and blow his secret, and he still offered to help her. “I- I guess I would like to meet with one of your sorceresses. If they can help me hide better, it would probably be a good idea.”

He nodded and began walking away. She wasn’t sure if she was supposed to follow or not until he stopped and glanced back, “are you coming or not?”

Oh. well she was definitely supposed to follow. She ran to catch up and hoped she didn’t seem too eager.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N I do not own Inuyasha

Chapter 15

Yash was getting worried. He hadn’t heard her moving in a while, but he didn't want to barge in. He knew she was mad at him. Dammit, if she would give him a chance to explain and try Sesh’s ideas to correct this then maybe they would be okay, but now she was clearly avoiding him. It had been almost 2 hours since she had gone to take a nap, and he had heard her moving, assuming she was tossing and turning, but now it was quiet. Too quiet.

When it hit the 2 hour mark, he got up and listened at the door. He could hear the breeze blowing through the sliding door, but no other sounds were prevalent. He cracked the door open and saw a lump under the sheet, but that was all he could make out. Apparently, she really had been tossing and turning the blankets were a mess. He took a deep sniff and his heart dropped. Her scent wasn’t fresh. It was fading as the wind blew in the room. He stepped inside and realized she had shoved one of the pillows and the blanket under the sheet to look like she was still in bed. His demon began growling and he could barely hold it back. 

He had let her go; the world was dangerous and there was someone who wanted to hurt her, and he had failed to keep her safe. She hadn’t trusted him to keep her safe, apparently. She felt she would be better without him, which might have been true, since he had already betrayed her twice. She needed someone who was worthy of her, and he could never be. Hanyou were a lot more common now than they were when he was young, but they were still looked down upon. They were still worthless. Even if his brother was trying to change that, it would never be the truth. But he still couldn’t leave her out there alone. His demon was growling loudly in his head.

He pulled out his phone and sent a quick text to his brother, “Kagome’s missing. I have to go find her.”

Within seconds he received a message back, “She is currently with me. We are working on creating a cloaking spell for her. I will attempt to convince her to return to speak to you when she is finished.”

He let out a loud sigh and flopped onto the couch. She was still safe; she was still within the compound. He hadn’t fucked up everything, yet. His head was in his hands and he was growling loudly before he could manage to regain his self control. He pulled out the pen that was actually tessaiga and felt his demonic traits abate. She needed him to be better and do better. He wasn’t worthy of her, but if he improved, could he be?

~~~~~~~~~~~

Kagome was speaking to a sorceress named Tsukimi. Tsukimi was circling Kagome as if she were a buzzard and Kagome was her next meal, but she said she was feeling her energies and trying to figure out the best way to harness her own power to create the cloaking spell. It apparently made the spell stronger and helped it to last longer. Kagome just wanted it to be over so she could leave. She wanted to trust these people; they had been nothing but considerate, with the exception of a certain silver-haired man, whom she was finding herself drawn to. He had made a few careless mistakes, and she was still rather irate about the whole thing. 

Sesshomaru had at least explained that when Inuyasha started to lose control of his demon almost 500 years ago, he had learned the hard way that Sesshomaru could not help him without all the facts. In that regard, it had become natural for Inuyasha to tell him everything. He also warned her it was unkind to believe he did it to betray her on purpose. His entire goal since he saved her from the attacker on the subway the previous day was to protect her.

It only slightly calmed her anger. She was still pissed. It was unfair of him to tell her secrets. Which Sesshomaru said he understood, but she had been given a chance to tell him when she first met him. When she didn’t, Yash must have assumed it was necessary to do so. Which would have made sense if he hadn’t looked so guilty, like blabbing had been an accident at best. He barely noticed he had said something wrong until he heard her gasp.

After what had to be at least an hour, the sorceress clapped her hands in front of herself.

“Dear, that is going to be tough to beat. Your powers might as well be an atomic blast. I could power more cloaking spells from only 1% of your power than I could with almost anyone else I’ve met.”

Kagome felt her gaze drop, she was bound to be a liability now. She heard Sesshomaru give the tiniest breath in, like he was shocked to see the kind of power she had. This might have been a mistake. She had given away more information and was more indebted to them than before. They could easily make demands of her, and she should be compelled to do what she could.

Sesshomaru stood from the fancy wingback chair he had been sitting comfortably in with one knee propped up over his other and a smartphone in his hand while he did whatever he needed to while the Sorceress worked.

“Thank you, Miss Tsubaki. I appreciate your help.”

She followed Sesshomaru out. She needed to cut to the chase, “So, how do you want me to repay you? I have a feeling that what she just said is kind of getting your wheels turning. Any ideas, yet?”

He glanced over from the corner of his eye, “For right now, I have one request. It will not absolve all that you owe me, but it will be a start. If you are unwilling, then I will think of something else.”

She huffed out her frustration. Of course it would not absolve all of her debt. This was going to be a long negotiation.

“What is it?”

“I would like you to give this one’s brother a chance to speak to you before you attempt to run away again. He would be more than happy to accompany you on your trip to find the witch, and that may also become a part of the repayment if we can convince this witch to speak to him or myself. Though that will be discussed later. Will you speak to Inuyasha?”

Her mind froze, “You want me to speak to Yash? Why does it seem you are the only person who calls him Inuyasha?”

He glanced back at her again, “This one was introduced to him by our father nearly 600 years ago by that name. He has had to change it to fit in more, but he will always be Inuyasha to this one. If you would prefer for this one to refer to him by his pseudonym while speaking to you, I will do that. However, I had assumed you were one of the few who had been told his true name.”

She shook her head, “No. I was introduced to him as Yash, and that’s all I’ve known him as. He never told me it was a pseudonym. But I guess I didn’t tell him that I had changed my name either. It doesn’t matter, anyway. Yeah, I guess if that will start to absolve my debt, I will go speak to him before I leave. I will not promise to let him accompany me. I can’t guarantee he would even want that, anyway.”

She followed Sesshomaru back to the small guest house and Yash was at her side the second she walked in the door.

“You idiot, why the fuck did you try to sneak out?”

She sighed and glanced at Sesshomaru, who was still standing there and staring at her. “This one has told you the first thing you can do, and you have done part of it. We will discuss the rest after you two are finished. Inuyasha knows how to contact me when you are done.”

He turned and left as silently as a shadow, and it left her feeling a little unnerved.

“Kagome… I’m sorry. I know I have fucked up a lot, but don’t try to sneak away again. I can’t protect you if I’m not with you.”

She felt her power building and couldn’t hold back her anger again, “Who asked you to protect me? Now listen, I’m sorry I am. And I am very grateful that you stepped in on the subway, but you keep making decisions that involve me without discussing it with me! I have no idea where I am, I have no say so in if I am allowed to leave. I was TOLD by you that I wasn’t allowed to go to work! I have lived for over 2000 years and no one can tell me what to do! Do you have any idea who I am? I am the daughter of a God! You will not tell me what I can or cannot do! You will not order me around like I am some meek human to follow orders blindly! You have taken far too much from me to be trusted! I will leave whenever I want!”

Rain was pouring outside by the time she finished her tirade, and Inuyasha looked like a puppy that had been kicked. Well, that wasn’t her original plan, but his ‘protection’ spiel had been too much for her to take. She glanced to the roof and closed her eyes, stopping the downpour again. At least she hadn’t brought another hurricane.

She watched as his eyes stared at the ground guiltily. She knew she had hurt his feelings. She had been more than a bit harsh, but he needed to realize she wasn’t some weak mortal he was dealing with. She would outlive him by several millennia, unless her father and his siblings found out she existed. That could be the final nail in her coffin, and if she didn’t get her emotions under control, it was more likely than not at this rate. She kept calling storms and hurricanes; it was going to get her noticed.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Inuyasha heard them coming and was at her side before the door was closed. Then like an asshole his condescension decided to make itself known, “You idiot, why the fuck did you try to sneak out?”

She sighed and glanced at Sesshomaru who broke up the brewing argument, “This one has told you the first thing you can do, and you have done part of it. We will discuss the rest after you two are finished. Inuyasha knows how to contact me when you are done.”

He had to get her to talk; he had to start with an apology. It was the best way to clear the air, right?

“Kagome… I’m sorry. I know I have fucked up a lot, but don’t try to sneak away again. I can’t protect you if I’m not with you.”

Okay, that was a terrible apology. It started out promising, but his protective instincts kicked in again. And, apparently, it didn’t do wonders for her either if the spark of anger in her eyes was anything to go by. Her voice was low and calm, but full of deadly intent.

“Who asked you to protect me? Now listen, I’m sorry, I am. And I am very grateful that you stepped in on the subway, but you keep making decisions that involve me without discussing it with me! I have no idea where I am, I have no say so in if I am allowed to leave. I was TOLD by you that I wasn’t allowed to go to work! I have lived for over 2000 years and no one can tell me what to do! Do you have any idea who I am? I am the daughter of a God! You will not tell me what I can or cannot do! You will not order me around like I am some meek human to follow orders blindly! You have taken far too much from me to be trusted! I will leave whenever I want!”

He was completely taken aback. He had taken over everything since things happened. He didn’t bother to give her the ability to make decisions and had just assumed control. He hadn’t cared about her wishes or desires, anymore than he cared about the fact that she could probably kill him faster than he could fight back. Not that he would. But it was still unfair. No wonder she was furious with him. How would he feel if the situation was reversed? How would he feel if someone he barely knew was taking all of his decisions away? 

Plus, he knew she was meant to be his mate, but she didn’t. That was a youkai thing, not a Gorgon thing. She probably didn’t even know those instincts existed. He had been so quick to jump in and save the day; he hadn’t even thought about asking if she wanted him to. He had been an utter fool. This was probably beyond saving at this point. And she would likely want to be as far away from him as possible.

His chin was against his chest as he tried to suck air into his lungs. What was he going to do? He glanced up to see her staring at the ceiling, and he heard the pouring rain stop. When did it start raining? Oh, of course. When he pissed off the daughter of Poseidon. Of course he did. Of course he would do that, wouldn’t he?

His ears were tucked in against his head. He felt like the biggest asshole of the century and that was pretty terrible considering the assholes he had met in the last hundred years. Her soft voice pulled him out, though.

“Look, I understand that you are trying to help me. But you have to realize that I have been taking care of myself for a very long time. With very few exceptions, if I need help I will ask for it. Now, Sesshomaru told me, I needed to let you talk to me. I am already in debt up to my snakes’ eyeballs and if this will help to absolve some of that then so be it. What did you want to tell me?”

He both wanted to kiss that stoic asshole and hit him. He hadn’t expected this to be the next step. She was just so pissed off that a storm had appeared over the house, and now she wanted him to just talk about his feelings? But then, knowing Sesh, he hadn't told her what they were going to talk about. Likely just that he had things to talk to her about. This was going to be a long conversation.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters. I'm just a storyteller.

Kagome could see the tension currently held in his shoulders. She tried to determine why it bothered her, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Sure, she owed him a lot; he had saved her life. And, sure she owed Sesshomaru too. She had a feeling Yash had no intention of collecting, though, where his brother definitely did. She sat on the corner of the sofa and waited for him to decide if he wanted to talk. It seemed like he was weighing his options or debating where to start. His eyes kept darting to look at her, then glanced away. She really didn't have time for this; she had to go, and soon.

Yash finally plopped down on the floor across from her, letting out a huff.

“Kagome, do you know anything about hanyou?”

She scrunched her forehead and tried to remember. The word sounded familiar, but she couldn't place it. It had been a long 72 hours, and she wasn't sure she would remember if she had. she stripes slightly and shook her head. He let out another ragged sigh, then nodded once.

“A hanyou is a child born of a demon and a human. They are generally looked at as lesser beings. Full demons consider them unworthy, and centuries ago they were commonly killed at birth. If not by the parents or family, then by whoever found them first.”

“My father was a daiyoukai, which is a very powerful demon. He ruled the western lands. He had an arranged marriage to another demon named Inukimi. Sesshomaru’s mother. They had been together for over a century when Sesshomaru was born. It was another century later when he met my mother. She was a human princess. He said the second he saw her, he knew she was his mate. Inus can detect their mates by scent. He spoke to Inukimi, who told him of course he could have a "pet". They were married and had me after a couple years. One day, my father went out to fight a youkai and he fell in battle. Normally, when an inu mates with someone, they share lifespans. But with my father dead, my mother lived her regular lifespan. Youkai age slower than humans. My mother died when I was still practically a child.”

“I spent the next century or so fighting to survive. Sesshomaru finally decided to stop trying to kill me, but that was after we ended up working together to kill the same youkai who killed our father.”

“Shortly after that, he met a young human child. He saved her, actually. He had no idea at the time that she was his mate. When she hit puberty and her scent changed he knew. And he ended up asking for my help. I was in a small village where I kept guard. They didn't necessarily trust me, but they didn't hate me. I'd saved enough of their village to earn that much.”

“I had the priestess help raise her. When she reached adulthood, he started courting her. Then one day, the village was attacked, and she almost died. I brought her to him, and he marked her. She wouldn't have survived otherwise.”

“After that, Sesh let me come live here with him. He and Rin have been married for a long time. No children yet, but I think he's afraid they’ll go through what I did. Which, who could blame him? I was almost killed daily for decades. I never imagined I could be happy. I never thought I'd be given that chance.”

“Then I met you. I tried to figure out what was so different about you. I'd never felt drawn to someone like that. Then when you were hurt and crying, my youkai tried to take over. After I fought it, I got the message loud and clear. You're my mate. Not that that obligates you in any way. But that's the long and the short of it.”

Kagome had sat in absolute silence, entranced by the tale. When he came to a close, she sat back, unable to remember when she had leaned forward in the first place. She sat there dumbfounded for a moment.

“Yash, why did - I mean - Thank you for telling me the story. But why did you?”

A slight head shake was her only answer for a minute.

“Kagome, Sesshomaru is the only person I've ever trusted. But I wanted to confide in you. I don't want you to think that I didn't trust you, especially when I fucked up so much already. If there's anything about me you want to know, just ask. I don't want to keep secrets from you, okay?”

She couldn't hold back the smile, then she nodded softly.

“Okay, why did you bring your brother to my house while I was sleeping? You know, it was more than a bit terrifying waking up with a stranger in my home.”

His head dropped, “yeah, I imagine it was. After you scrubbed yourself raw my youkai side tried to come out. I haven't lost control of him in a few centuries. I was worried he might try to claim you and mark you, since he told me you were my mate. I have a sword made from my father's fang that keeps him in check, but I don't carry it. Sesshomaru came over to bring it to me. I originally called him to see if there were any other things that could help me keep him in check. But then I figured he might be able to help you too.”

Her head dropped. She had felt so violated, but apparently she had been wrong about everything.

“Oh. I'm sorry, Yash. I guess I was overreacting. And I can understand why you told him about my sight. He was helping me. I'm just not used to people helping me. I've never stayed in one place long enough. Okay, so it's your turn. You ask me a question.”

She watched as those burning gold eyes searched hers, as if unsure if it was fair to ask.

“How long have you been in Japan?”

So, he was staying with light topics, huh? The corners of her lips lifted a bit.

“I’ve been here fifteen years. I have been traveling the world for centuries. I was actually here about 500 years ago. It was beautiful. I miss seeing nature everywhere. Though I do appreciate some of the updates, like running water, and air conditioning. Have you ever left the island?”

He shook his head but remained silent.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He watched as Kagome sat on the corner of the couch, giving him room to sit. He didn’t know where to begin. He had been looked down upon by almost everyone. At least everyone who knew the truth. Even his brother had tried to kill him for a few centuries. No humans knew his secret. Not any that were alive, anyway. Not for a very long time. He kept looking to the door. He just wanted to run. Then he’d look at her, and his feet stayed rooted to the floor. She wasn’t a youkai, or a human. She was something altogether different. Well, at one point she was kind of half human, wasn’t she? A half human who was living with a cursed existence. Maybe she’d understand more than he thought. Maybe, being stuck between worlds like she has been, she would understand.

He plopped himself on the floor across the table from her and let out a huff. He needed to do this. She deserved this.

“Kagome, do you know anything about hanyou?” He could hear the shakiness in his own voice. He hoped she didn’t hear it too.

He watched as she scrunched her forehead and seemed to rack her brain to remember, but after a minute or so, she shook her head. He figured. She hadn’t lived here that long, and all the youkai and the very few hanyou still hid their identities. Even if she had seen them, she wouldn’t have noticed a difference. Even being able to see through their disguises it wasn’t something someone knew about.

He let out another ragged sigh and told her the truth. He hadn’t ever told this story. He told her about his past, and he tried to skip over a few details that hurt too much. He barely mentioned his father, seeing as how he didn’t remember him at all. He glazed over his mother’s death, not wanting to get into that. But he made a mental note that when he began speaking about his mother she had sat forward in her seat. He wasn’t sure if it was because he was speaking about his mother, or that she was interested in the whole story.

He didn’t mention how often Sesh almost succeeded in killing him, but luck must’ve been on his side. Either that or Sesh never really tried. He knew he was no match for the daiyoukai. He would never admit that out loud. He was close, probably closer than most, but still not powerful enough to ever actually hurt him. Not in his hanyou form, at least. 

When his full youkai form took over he had managed to actually hit his brother a time or two. He had done significant damage once or twice in that form, actually, but he really didn’t want to tell her about that either. He didn’t want her to see him as a bloodthirsty monster.

He told her about actually teaming up with his brother to defeat Ryukotsusei and how it apparently earned him some respect from his elder half sibling. Then he told her about Rin. He didn’t go into too much detail. He needed to do this slowly. Even if telling her everything was probably similar to ripping off a bandaid, he needed to give her time to absorb everything.

Now to tell her about her being his mate. Again, not too much detail. Give her the basics, and then he could let her ask questions. After he finished, she sat back in her seat, but never took her eyes off of him. Take a deep breath, idiot. She needs time to absorb it. She needs time to think through the overload of information you gave her and sift through to see what’s most important.’ His body obeyed his silent demands, and he felt his eyes close. He needed to let her think it through, but his human side was now the part that was practically screaming in his head. 

It wasn’t like when the youkai side took over, though. It was more like a wall had been torn down and emotions were running rampant in his head. It felt like his human side was begging her to love and accept him. Her voice brought his eyes back open.

“Yash, why did - I mean - Thank you for telling me the story. But why did you?”

He shook his head, he really hadn’t explained what he was doing, of course she was confused. Okay, he had told her a lot. He could keep going. Even though this was more his human side’s thing. Spewing emotion with every word. He had kept himself safe and alive by keeping his emotions hidden. But she was his mate. She deserved to know everything. He would not hold back. Not for her.

He told her about how he had learned to trust Sesh, and how he wanted him to no longer be the only one he trusted. He told her how he wanted to start this, to apologize in a small way. He had to even the playing field. She deserved better than him as her mate, and he was going to become better. He had to. For her. 

The smile that spread across her face and made a cute dimple appear on one cheek was precious, and his heart hammered in his chest. She was perfect. He knew the face he was seeing was a disguise, but he had seen her true face and she was beautiful then too. 

Then she asked a completely legitimate question, ‘why had he invited a stranger into her apartment while she was weak and vulnerable?’ He had been so afraid of what his youkai side would do, he needed to do something. He had scared her, which if he woke up to strangers in his home less than 12 hours after being attacked, he would be terrified too. He hadn’t been thinking like that, though. He knew his brother could help him, and he hoped he would be able to help her too. He told her everything. About the tessaiga and wanting to protect her.

He watched as her head dropped, and his stomach fell with it. What was she thinking? Was she mad because he had no right to invite someone into her apartment? Which was true. They had spoken all of three times when he was in her apartment. Sure, he had saved her. But that didn’t mean she owed him her trust. Would she tell him he wasn’t enough?

“Oh. I'm sorry, Yash. I guess I was overreacting. And I can understand why you told him about my sight. He was helping me. I'm just not used to people helping me. I've never stayed in one place long enough. Okay, so it's your turn. You ask me a question.”

Wait, what? She was sorry? She hadn’t been overreacting. He had fucked this up, down, and sideways. He knew she was vulnerable and invited someone else into her place, when she was feeling scared and weak. He had blown every secret she had ever shared with him. She had every right to not want to trust him. But he did have questions. So many questions. But he didn’t deserve to know anymore of her secrets yet.

“How long have you been in Japan?”

Her eyes softened in a tiny smile, and her voice was soft and even, “I’ve been here fifteen years. I have been traveling the world for centuries. I was actually here about 500 years ago. It was beautiful. I miss seeing nature everywhere. Though I do appreciate some of the updates, like running water, and air conditioning. Have you ever left the island?”

He just shook his head. He hadn’t ever left. He had no reason to go anywhere. He had nothing out there. He wasn’t accepted here, but he wouldn’t be accepted anywhere else either. At least here he had managed to make a few friends. Plus, his brother was trying to fix things. Not that he believed it was possible. But the hope his brother had almost gave him hope. Almost. He shook his head. Thinking about all the beautiful things she had likely seen in her travels. She had been alive for a very long time. Over 2000 years, she had said. She had seen empires rise and fall. She had seen millions die in wars, plagues, and famine. She had seen more than he could ever imagine. He wondered how much positive change she had seen in her two millennia. He knew he was old. Older than almost everyone, except Sesh. But she had been alive over 1000 years longer than him.

“Uhh, what made ya leave Japan last time you were here? Ya said it was 500 years ago?”

She nodded and her face dropped to the floor, “Something attacked me, but I didn't know who was trying to hurt me. I was traveling, exploring, seeing all the things my tiny island didn’t have. When something hit me. It terrified me. But there was no wound, even though it hurt, badly. I had seen priestesses attack what I knew were youkai, and I had seen blasts of their reiki. I figured a priestess was attacking me, thinking I was one too. I fled. I felt strange for days after that and I got scared thinking a powerful priestess had marked me or something. So I left the island. I went to the mainland, and back across Europe.”

He couldn’t take his eyes off of her. 500 years ago, a priestess had attacked her? But she had no youki or jyaki. How would a priestess’s reiki even hurt her? How would it target her? Unless it was a dark miko. They could attack anyone. Then the thought dawned on him. What if the attack from the other night and the attack from 500 years ago were related? That is something he would need to look into. But not without talking to her about it first. He wouldn’t keep making the same mistakes again.

“Kagome, do you know anything else about reiki?”

Her face lifted back up, “ummm, only what I have studied. I mean, when I was traveling back then I was looking for priestesses and witches, basically. I was trying to see if there was any way to break this curse. The witch I had met who helped me with my disguise, told me she couldn’t but there would be a power in this land that could. But she was a seer, as well. So, I started traveling. Working my way across the land and learning as much as I could. My mother was a priestess, and I always believed she had reiki. But the curse destroyed her priestess powers before I was born. I thought maybe if I could break the curse, I would, actually, gain some of her powers. That’s why I studied. Why do you ask?”

“Well, good priestesses reiki can only target the power of a youkai or monster from what I have seen, unless it is a dark miko. They can target anyone. But the blast from a priestess is generally very painful. So, I was trying to figure out how reiki would attack you. Then I kinda thought about the attack from the subway. D’ya think they’re related? I mean, I know it’s been 500 years, but if a priestess has sold her soul to demons, she wouldn’t age like a human anymore. Mind you, Sesh has managed to wipe out most if not all dark miko in the area, but they could’a sensed you and came back. Especially if they put some sort of tracking spell on ya.”

The terror on her face was enough to break his heart for a second. He was on his feet and sitting next to her before he realized he had moved. He decided to listen to his body and not fight it anymore. He wrapped her in his arms and pulled her close.

“Hey, I promised I’d protect you. And you’re not alone in this. It’s gonna be okay. I promise.”


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters. Also sorry for the delay. I meant to post this yesterday.

Chapter 17

Kagura was checking to see if the blocking spell was used by a specific youkai, or a specific sorcerer, or both. She went to all the locations, but there was nothing that tied them together. They weren’t registered under the same name, or the same company, they were not all places of residence or business. So likely, there was a sorcerer who was hired to create the blocking spells. She had traveled to several places in the city and crafted a very powerful spell. She checked each and everyone of them, anyway. A few tall skyscraper buildings, where hundreds of people worked, no telling who hired the sorceress to block it. A few apartment buildings so once again no way to narrow it down. 

Then she got to a large estate. At least she knew this one was owned by a single person. She was trying to hide, but there were cameras and guards everywhere. There were warding sigils on the large wall that fenced the property. She could not enter to look around, but could tell this youkai was powerful. She walked by the gate and looked for a family crest or something. He was old blood. It only took one glance at the crest to know he was the son of the Inu no Taisho. The current Lord of the West. 

Well, that had to answer the question of where the monster was. Now she at least had something for Naraku. Not that he would likely be pleased with this outcome. She took her time walking all the way around the barrier. She didn't want to leave the fresh air soon. She wanted to enjoy what she could while she had the chance. She wanted to feel the wind on her face for the little time she could.

She went back after checking the remaining locations. Nothing wrong with being thorough. She had to make sure she could give him the best answer after all. The trip back to her prison went too quickly for her liking. Arriving back at the hell she has lived in for years.

As she entered she went to his office first. He was, unfortunately, not there. She went to the great hall, as he called it. Not there. He must still be in his room. She dawdled as long as she dared. Knocked and waited for a response.

A slimy voice responded, “Enter.” and she swung the door open slightly and peeked her head inside. “Ah, Kagura. You have returned. And tell me the good news. Where is my monster? Did you bring her with you?”

She took a deep breath, “Naraku, after looking at all the locations that match the block, I believe the most logical one housing her is the son of Inu No Taisho. Most of the locations were office buildings or apartment buildings. But the residents were smart. They didn't just have a single apartment blocked, they had entire buildings warded meaning we cannot pinpoint which apartments they may be. It would make sense, Sir, that the current Lord of the West would guard those in his territory though. Not that I would even begin to make assumptions on your part. I did monitor all the locations as best I could. However, his estate is under guard, and I was unable to remain for long without being detected. If you would like me to go back after dark, I will gladly try again.”

He shook his head, “No, Kagura. I will contact my dear friend Sesshomaru. I am sure he would be happy to help me. Especially if I have something he wants in return. Now, go eat, I know you have not eaten today, and afterwards you may return to your room. Also, send in the newest servant girl. My appetite is back. And here I thought my needs had been sated for a while. Unless you of course are interested?”

She gave a fake smile, and tried to seem to consider, “My Lord, I believe my body would be too tired to please you. I will have the new servant girl sent up for you.” 

Then made her way to the kitchens, stopping one of the guards to relay his request. They brought a young human out of the dungeon and she was screaming and crying all the way down the hall. Kagura took a deep breath. She would not endanger herself to save someone. She needed to take care of herself first. She reheated a small bowl of leftovers from his previous meal and went to her room. Hopefully, it would not be long before she could be back outside and feel the wind again. Last time it was at least 3 months. She needed to feel the fresh air. It was her only solace of her existence.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sesshomaru was not eavesdropping. He was ensuring his fool of a half brother did what needed to be done. He didn’t want him to suffer by losing his mate, especially at such a young age. He still had centuries to live, and to do so without his mate by his side, would not be worth it. He could almost imagine Inuyasha trying to take his own life, if he failed to be with her. He had to do what he could to protect him. He had failed in the first couple centuries. But after Inuyasha stepped up and assisted in the revenge of their father. After he decided to take his bloodline seriously, Sesshomaru knew that he could be a worthy successor. He started trying to help him. He began to speak highly of him to other demons, especially in battle meetings, and committees. He wanted the other rulers to know that even though he was not a full fledged demon, he was still of royal blood, and still held power. 

He wanted him to know that if Inuyasha wanted it, he could have his own land. He could have his own kingdom. Sesshomaru would gladly split the Land of the West into two equal parts and allow Inuyasha to rule on half. The only other option was to teach him to be his second in command. But, Inuyasha did not seem to be interested in ruling. He would continue to try to train him. He would give him time, but try to get him to want to help their people. But, it seemed Inuyasha did not see how his business helped their people. Perhaps after this was all done, he would have to show him a bit more.

But right now, there were more important things going on. There was someone trying to attack Inuyasha’s mate. He would do whatever was necessary to protect the creature in the small guest house. Inuyasha deserved to be happy. He remembered how much Inuyasha stood by him and helped him figure out how to court a human. It was such a new world for him. But Inuyasha was amazingly patient. Even if he did mock and tease him. He would not throw the friendship they had worked hard on, away for anything.

He couldn’t hold back the grin as he stood as silent as death outside the door to the guest house. Listening to Inuyasha tell the story. He was very proud of him; he was so afraid of being judged unfairly. He knew he was part of that. He had judged him so harshly when he was but a pup. He hadn’t given him a chance to come into his own. He had tried to kill him so many times. Okay, not entirely. If he had wanted his little brother dead, the boy would be dead. But he was so much fun to play with back then. He felt that he was unworthy of their father’s fang, and his father’s bloodline. Not to mention, the fact that he had left his mother to go be with that mortal woman. Sesshomaru had been too little to understand. Too immature. Then, having their father die at the hands of Ryukutsusei had been a wound too deep to heal easily. He knew it hadn’t been Inuyasha’s fault. Nor his mother’s, but it was easier to blame them. Easier than looking at the truth. His father hadn’t gone out to protect only his mate and child, but his territory. His land. He went out to protect them all. If Ryukutsusei had been permitted to survive he would have laid waste to so many youkai and humans. It was necessary to kill him. Not that their father had succeeded. Despite his great strength. But he had sealed him away and unfortunately lost his life in that battle. He did what had to be done. And although it took a few centuries to realize it, Sesshomaru understood his reasoning now.

He now had to do his best for his father. Inu no Taisho would not want Sesshomaru to kill his youngest son, especially not because of who his mother was. He had improved greatly, through a great amount of work. He wanted to make his father proud, even if he was gone. He had a legacy to live up to. He had to keep his father’s name in good standing. He would do whatever was necessary to keep his people safe. All of them.

After his little brother finished telling the story, Sesshomaru walked away. He had done well. Now he hoped the creature would be able to forgive him. He didn't deserve to be hated by the one person in the world who could love and accept him. That was how mates worked. She could love and accept him through everything. She just needed to realize it. He would give them time and privacy to work things out now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kagome was still sitting on the sofa, asking questions back and forth. She finally knew she had to ask the next question. She had told Sesshomaru she would see about letting him come with her.

“Inuyasha, you said you would follow me to a cave if that’s where I had to go. Is that still true?”

His eyes snapped to hers, “Of course. Are ya leaving then?”

Her face softened, “Not in the way you think. I need to try to contact the witch who gave me my disguise spell. I think she might be able to help me, but Sesshomaru’s sorceress did give me a blocking spell, so it might not be necessary anymore. But since he was so impressed with my spell, he wants me to see if I can contact her, anyway. Would you be willing to go with me?”

He nodded before she had finished asking, “I told ya I would. I don’t really want to be away from you. Not that I won’t leave ya be if ya want me to, but I don’t want to. D’ya know where she is?”

She smiled, “I really don’t, but she told me before, to use the ring charm to call for her. I don’t know if it will lead me to her, or her to me. But I need to get somewhere safe before I start. I don’t know if there is anywhere safe anymore.”

He sat for a minute thinking, “We can probably build something that would keep you safe. We have some very powerful spell casters. With their help, we can get it done. They might need to use the charm to see about locating her, though. D’ya really think she’s still alive? Wasn’t that over 1500 years ago?”

She nodded, “I really don't know if she’s alive, but I was hoping. At least then I wouldn’t be in so much debt to your brother anymore.”

“Keh, don’t think about it like that. He isn’t looking to collect like you think he is. Yeah, he likes to know all the details, but you are in his territory. He’d protect you for free. It was never about you owing him. It was about him knowing because you owed him, you’ll tell him everything from now on. So don’t let him get to you. Besides, if it comes down to it, I will pay him back for ya. He owes me more than he’ll ever be able to pay back.”

She was startled at the soft smile on his face. It might have been the first real smile since she’d met him. It made him even more handsome, and it killed her. How could he be so damn good looking? She hadn’t been joking before when she called him an Adonis, but this just made it more true. She took a deep breath. She needed to get a hold of herself. She couldn’t let her libido dictate her decisions. Not again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Inuyasha would go to the ends of the world to be with her. If she wanted to hunt down some old witch, then he would go with her. No matter what. He would follow like a lost puppy if she tried to leave without him. He needed her. More than he needed the air in his lungs. So, when she gave him the option, of course, he said yes in a heartbeat. But the look on her face was something he wasn't ready for. She was definitely attracted to him. Which he had never had happen with someone who knew what he really looked like. Of course, only demons could see through his disguise and most of them looked down upon him because of his mixed heritage, anyway. But the scent of her arousal hit him hard and made something else hard. He tried to take a deep breath and reign himself in and by the smell of things so was she. He had to hold back. It was too much for her. 

He took a deep breath and released it slowly. He would do his best to show her that he could be mate material. He would do whatever she asked or whatever would make her happy. Now how in the hell could he figure out what would make her happy? He had never courted a woman in his life. He had never actually dated anyone. Sure, he’d had one-night stands, especially after meeting Miroku, but none of them ever knew who or what he was. He couldn’t even look them in the eye afterwards. He disappeared before the sun rose and never called them. He would have to figure out what she liked, what she wanted. But how?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kagome was trying to calm herself down. Sure, it had been centuries since she’d gotten laid, but it didn’t mean she should just spread her legs since Inuyasha was willing. And by the tent he was trying to conceal, he was definitely willing. And seeing his cock straining at the front of his pants was definitely not helping her calm down. She stood up and excused herself, going to the bathroom and rinsing her face. She didn’t even know what had caused Inuyasha to get so horny. It wasn’t like she had said or done anything to him about things like that. She had been speaking about the witch. She had been speaking about traveling to find her. And she had agreed that if she did have to leave, he could come to. Then she had seen him smile, and she knew she had gotten a little aroused, but that didn’t explain his reaction. Except what if it did? He was half Inu-youkai. He was half dog demon. Dogs could tell when a female was in heat. And isn’t that exactly what her being aroused was? Shit, he could tell when she was horny. Of COURSE he could! Because why not?  
,  
Her face was on fire, and she was trying to breathe, but struggling to get a breath n. He had known she was aroused, and it turned him on. Had he known every other time she looked at him and thought he was sexy? She was trying to trust him, but now even her emotions weren’t a secret. No, she did trust him. He had explained, and she had forgiven him. It didn't change the fact that his betrayal, although explained, still hurt, but she forgave him. She couldn't keep punishing him. But seriously? She couldn’t even get turned on without him knowing? She was going to need a sedative for the trip across the world with him.

She washed herself up everywhere, hoping to eliminate the pheromones. She was just kind of assuming it was pheromones. It could even be because he decided she was his mate and he could just tell when she was horny. Which wasn’t any better. She needed to figure out how to control herself. ‘Okay, let’s think of something unsexy. Let’s see… Ummm, things in my life that have killed my libido in the past. Ummm, shit, why can’t I stop picturing him?!’ Her mind was getting the better of her, and she needed to get it under control. But all she wanted to do was touch him. All she wanted to do was drag her fingers through that long silver hair. How in the hell was she going to fix this?

Another deep breath, ‘Okay, you are being hunted. Not for the first time, but you have no idea who this one is. It’s not Daddy. Nor is it likely one of his siblings or cousins. This is clearly a mortal. He wouldn’t send mercenaries after you, after all. He would just appear, grab you, and disappear in a heartbeat. But he doesn’t know you’re still alive. He thinks you were killed with Mama. He doesn’t need to know you’re alive either. Deep breath. At least I’m not horny anymore. Just terrified. I am not very good at this.’

*BAM BAM* “Kagome, are you okay?”

Of course, he was worried. She had been inside the bathroom for at least 10 minutes. Last time she left to be alone she tried to run away.

“I’m fine. I’ll be out in a minute.”

“Bullshit. You ain’t fine! What happened?”

“I said, I’m fine. Really. I just need a minute.”


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters. But I sure do have fun torturing them.

He watched as Kagome blushed and ran to the bathroom, and he couldn’t help but feel guilty, even if he couldn’t control his body like that. She just smelled so fucking good. And when he could smell her arousal he couldn’t hold back the dirty thoughts that came to mind, like ‘if she tastes half as good as she smells my head might never come out from between those perfect thighs’ or ‘unless they can be wrapped around my waist, that would be a worthwhile reason to pull my face from that pussy’. He felt like a creep. He heard the water running and figured she would be out in a minute. Several minutes passed, though, and he was getting nervous. He really didn’t want a repeat of earlier. He stood up and approached the door, and all he could smell was her terror. What the hell had happened in there in less than 5 minutes?

He pounded on the door, holding back from just breaking the fucking thing down.

“Kagome, are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I’ll be out in a minute.” He could hear the strain in her voice and it was pissing him the fuck off.

“Bullshit. You ain’t fine! What happened?” He could feel his words coming out more as a growl by the end of the sentence, but he didn’t give a fuck. She needed him, and he needed to protect her.

“I said, I’m fine. Really. I just need a minute.” He could tell she was trying to convince both him and herself, and he was not fucking convinced. He counted to five. It was the most he could do.

“Kagome, open this fucking door or it’s going to be in splinters.” He was doing his damnedest to not lose control, but she was scared and he couldn’t get to her. He needed to get to her. Immediately.

“Jeez, Yash, chill out. I said I’m fine.” As she said the word fine, the door swung open, and he immediately wrapped his arms around her, crushing her to him.

She let out a slight ‘oomph’ as their chests collided, but he refused to let her go. He couldn’t stand the smell of her fear, but it seemed he had distracted her from it, as he could tell the smell was fading quickly.

“What the hell were you thinking about in there?” He listened as her heart started pounding, and damn if her arousal wasn't coming back. No, she was scared. That was more important. He needed to make sure she was safe. 

“Hey, take a deep breath. It’s ok. Were you remembering the attack or something?”

She sighed and her arousal faded again, “No, just got lost in my thoughts. And they weren’t very pleasant. Well, I mean… You know what? Nevermind. It doesn’t matter. I’m fine. Can you maybe let go of me now?”

He felt his body sag, but he released her and she stepped back, “Are you okay? That seemed like a bit of an overreaction to me going to the bathroom.”

He couldn't help the growl that bubbled up, “‘Cause ya weren’t going to the bathroom. I thought we were trying not ta keep secrets anymore? But I guess ya don’t trust me yet.”

She sighed and her head drooped low, “Yash, this is an awkward conversation. It’s not that I don’t trust you, but I don’t think you’ll understand. Especially with your instincts screaming that ‘I’m your mate’. Please understand. I am trying to accept a lot here. Most of it is not even from you. Please?”

He sighed in response, “yeah, I know. I just can’t help it. I could smell your fear and it got the best of me. I just wanted to protect you. I know you weren’t scared when you ran in there, so I wasn’t sure if there was something in there, or what. Not that it’s likely. No one could sneak by Sesh’s guards without getting captured. He’s got the best of the best. So you are safe.” His eyes closed, and he tried to reign in his protective side a bit. He was smothering her and she wouldn’t be able to keep her anger in check for long. And if he kept this shit up, he was gonna deserve it.

It took a solid minute to lift his head, and she was smiling softly at him, although her cheeks were flushed red.

“Yash, thank you. I just- I don’t know how to say it. Okay?”

His head cocked to the side, ‘say what?’ She couldn’t be a virgin, there’s no way in hell, even if he wished she were. He would give anything to have been her first. But what else could she want to say to him? What else would be so hard to say to him about her arousal? Unless she wasn’t thinking of him when she became aroused, but that didn't seem likely. 

“Kagome, I ain’t gonna judge you. I don’t even think with my instincts the way they are, I could think less of ya. So, if ya wanna tell me, you can. I ain’t gonna force ya, though.”

He decided to try to drop it and went and sat back down. Waiting to see if she would sit, or talk to him, or what her other options may even be.

“Yash, I just- look, I can’t have this conversation. Not with you staring at me. I feel so incredibly pathetic as it is.”

He couldn’t hold back the whine that left him, but he closed his eyes, keeping his ears trained on her, waiting to see if that would be enough to help. She let out a bedraggled sigh and his shoulders slumped.

“Yash, it’s been a long time for me.” He felt his forehead crinkle in confusion, ‘long time’ for what?

“I mean, a long time. Not that I haven’t ever done it. But I don’t even know if I remember how to do… it. Let’s be honest here, the blind date with you is the first date I’ve had this century that I enjoyed. Until things went wrong. I just. I-I…” she let out a little growl, and he couldn’t help but think how cute it was. Then she grumbled under her breath, “what am I doing? Why am I saying these things?”

Finally he cut her off, “Kagome, you don’t have to say anymore. I get it. I mean, it’s not like I’m that experienced.” He felt himself cringe at the word, embarrassed in the admission. But she deserved to know the truth. He waited a minute to see what she would say, but when she said nothing he cracked an eye open and the look of shock on her face surprised the hell out of him.

“Yash, how- I mean- Have you seen you? How can you say something like that?” Now he was definitely blushing. What that hell could he say in response to that?

“I mean, that seems like the pot calling the kettle black, dontcha think?”

Then her eyes widened, and she stared at the floor again. “I don’t know about that…” She mumbled under her breath, but he caught it all the same. So she didn’t think she was gorgeous, huh? He would have to truly correct that, when she was ready, of course. For now he stood up and approached her, then placed his palm upon her cheek. He wasn’t good with words, but maybe he could help with his actions. Her head snapped up to his, and she let out a little gasp.

Her name came out in a whisper and he thought he might die when she whispered his name back. And not his nickname, but his real name. Before he could stop himself his lips crashed upon hers and his arms were around her waist with his palms splaying over her back. He was terrified he had fucked up until her hands gently wound up and around his neck, and finally she kissed him back. Her tongue gently slid against his lower lip, and he gladly took the opening and plunged his tongue into her mouth, swallowing her gasp. Her hands dove into his hair at the nape of his neck and he growled once lowly as he pulled her into him more. She moaned against his lips and the vibration made him start growling.

Then her scent permeated the air, heavier and headier than he had ever experienced it. So she liked his growling, huh? He lifted her up and carried her to the couch, never taking his lips from hers. Her legs wrapped around his waist as he carried her. His hands roamed her stomach and hips gently. Trying to stay in a somewhat safe zone, even though his demon was howling in his head. Then his lips left hers and began trailing down her jaw and gently nibbling her neck. The sweet sounds she was making would plague his wet dreams for eternity. His cock was throbbing and begging for her. But he couldn’t do that to her. He wasn’t even sure how this had happened anymore.

He was focusing on her sounds when he felt her hand latch onto one of his ears. He let out a growl against her flesh and she yanked her hand away as if it burned her.

“Go ahead, Kagome. I just can’t guarantee that I’ll be able to stop if you do that.” The only way he would stop now was probably if they were interrupted or if she actually stopped him. Her flesh tasted so sweet, and he would be content to taste her forever. The fact that she didn’t put her hand back on his ear almost made him whine, but he knew he didn’t want to push her too far. It was too soon. He gently ran his tongue back up to her ear and nibbled on her earlobe, and the sweet seductive moan she let out was almost enough to have him coming in his fucking jeans. Almost.

He pulled back, and he had to appreciate how red her lips and cheeks were. She was even more gorgeous now that her lips were a little swollen from his kisses. He leaned back down as if to nibble on her ear again, but instead whispered huskily into her ear.

“Ya know, you shouldn’t doubt how beautiful you are, Kagome. You said you trust me, then you should trust me when I say you are the most beautiful creature I have ever seen.”

Her eyes widened at that, and the fetching blush that traveled down under her shirt somehow made her even more beautiful. She was his, and he would show her how perfect she was. Not yet, though. He had to finish earning her trust. He sat back and stepped off of her, but he didn’t miss the little whine she let out. Instead, he smirked at her and held out his hand to help her sit back up. She took a second to catch her breath before taking it, and then he sat down next to her.

“See, you remember more than enough, Kagome.”

Her blush somehow deepened and by the Gods he was in love with her. He barely knew her, but he was head over heels in love with her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kagome couldn’t stop focusing on his lips on her neck. She hadn’t been kissed like this in, well, ever. His passion was feeding into her and she could barely catch her breath. The way his fangs grazed so softly, but still she felt the sharp little points in a teasing caress. The way his tongue laved after every little prick, or the way his lips suckled gently. She couldn't help but be lost in his touch. She hadn’t ever been touched or caressed like this. It’s not that she was a prude, but she couldn't take chances of falling in love. She couldn’t risk someone finding out her secret. She needed to protect herself. But there was no protection from Inuyasha. She kept saying his name like a mantra in her head. Not knowing what else to say or do. She was lost in the pleasure he seemed so willing to provide. How could she ever go back to being celibate when his kisses were the best drug she’d ever experienced? How could she go back into hiding, knowing these lips might be kissing someone else and not her? She wasn’t usually greedy or possessive, not that she had ever had anything to be greedy or possessive about, but she at least didn't think she would be. But the idea of these lips on someone else, not her, was driving her insane. She couldn’t give him up. What was she going to do now? She couldn’t give him up…

He pulled away and sat up, and she couldn’t suppress the whine that came from losing his touch. He smirked at her then leaned down as if he was going to resume, then he whispered breathily into her ear and she almost melted.

“Ya know, you shouldn’t doubt how beautiful you are, Kagome. You said you trust me, then you should trust me when I say you are the most beautiful creature I have ever seen.”

Her eyes widened so far the scars pulled painfully, but she couldn't focus on that now. He had just said… She had never had anyone call her beautiful, especially after seeing her true form. She wasn’t beautiful. She was a monster hiding behind a mask. Why couldn’t he see that? Why couldn't he see who she really was? Then he smirked and extended his hand to help her sit up. She sat for a minute to catch her breath, then took his hand. He sat her up and sat down next to her, leaning over to whisper to her again.

“See, you remember more than enough, Kagome.”

She sat next to him, trying to fight back the blush that she was sure was spreading across her face and neck, possibly even further. His hand landed on her knee and she had to resist the temptation to slide it up her thigh. He obviously wanted to touch her, and never in all her centuries had she wanted to be touched like this. Really, what would the harm be? She hadn’t enjoyed a night of passion in centuries. But she knew that she was in danger in more ways than just breaking her heart. If something happened to her, she was fairly certain it would hurt him. Perhaps she should hold her emotions in check until they could be sure it was safe.

She let out a slow breath, and Inuyasha stood up to go to the bathroom. She wanted him, but she knew it wasn’t fair to either of them. Their attraction was deeper than just looks. For some reason they had a connection of sorts. Even after he had hurt her, she still wanted to forgive him. Maybe just one more kiss…

He came out of the bathroom and looked much less dishevelled than she imagined she did. He sat down next to her and for some reason looked guilty.

“Kagome, I’m sorry. I mean- I wanted to touch you and kiss you, but I know you’ve been through hell. I don’t want to push you into anything.”

She didn’t know how to tell him she wanted him to touch her and kiss her. She didn’t know how to tell him that she wanted to touch him back. How could she make those kinds of declarations?

“Inuyasha, you don’t have to feel bad for that. It’s not like I didn’t enjoy it. I mean, how could I not enjoy it? The reincarnation of Adonis was kissing me, and I-I wanted more.” The last sentence came out as a whisper and she closed her eyes and tried to ignore the self pity rising up within her.

She focused on her powers inside of her, trying to slow the steady thrum of her heartbeat and calm her breathing down. It wasn’t working. Soon, with her eyes closed, she began imagining things. A lot of things. Like his tongue being somewhere else. Oh by the Gods, his tongue had felt like heaven on her neck. What would it feel like down there? She clenched her thighs tight to try to hide the scent she knew was permeating the air and was caught off guard by a sudden growl. The snakes looked over to see purple stripes on his cheeks again, and his golden eyes were wrapped around red and bright blue. His smirk was sinful, and his fangs seemed longer.

He leaned towards her and his breath tickled her ear, but his words came out deeper than usual. Almost a growl against her flesh, “I don’t know what you’re thinking about, but you smell like fucking heaven. Maybe if you tell me what it is, I can help you see if it’s as good as your imagination.”

She couldn’t hold back the gasp and she felt her panties get soaked. This was too much, and yet, not nearly enough. Her head fell to the side and his mouth was hot on her neck again. His hand slid up her thigh, and she let out a sigh of his name.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters I used. But I do own the idea. And I love it. SO if you love it too, feel free to comment.

Chapter 19

Inuyasha stood up to go get himself cooled off. He was hoping a few seconds away from her arousing scent would clear his head, but it didn’t seem to be helping. He ran his claws through his hair and fixed his ponytail. He exited the bathroom and her scent had gotten even stronger. As he reentered the room, her eyes were closed and her lip was in between her teeth. He saw her clenching her thighs tight and her scent was singing to him. It almost felt like an out-of-body experience. He could see everything from his own eyes, but he could not control any of his actions.

Then he sat down next to her and leaned in. As he heard the deep rumble of his own voice, he realized his demon had taken over.

“I don’t know what you’re thinking about, but you smell like fucking heaven. Maybe if you tell me what it is, I can help you see if it’s as good as your imagination.”

Fuck!!! He was gonna kill the bastard! Even with the tessaiga in his fucking pocket, he still lost control! He was a fucking mess! The gasp and increase in her arousal was enough to have his dick hardening. He had to stop this, NOW!

Her head leaned away from him, revealing her soft pale neck, and his demon half was soft and gentle as he nibbled carefully. Leaving no signs of injury or even any marks. Her sighs and gasps of his name almost did him in. Did she not realize he wasn’t really in control? Would his demon push her beyond her limits? Would he make her do more than she was willing? Fuck, he had to stop this. He tried not to focus on the beauty beneath him and ignore her sweet taste. Wait beneath him? Fuck, she had laid down, and his demon graciously followed.

Her hands landed on his cheeks and she pulled him up to look in her eyes. Her voice was sweet and soft, “Inuyasha, come back. Come back to me.”

His demon faltered. He felt the beast falter, and he seized control. 

“Fuck, Kagome, are you okay?”

She smiled softly, then pressed her lips to his. She tasted like angels oughta taste, and he was in heaven. Her lips were perfect. So hot and sweet. Now that he was back in the driver’s seat, so to speak, he could at least make sure he didn’t do anything terrible.

“I’m glad you’re back. I mean, I like kissing all of you, but I prefer if we do anything else that for the first time it’s with the real you. Not that I mind hanging out and having fun with him. But if we do anything serious, I want the first time to be with you.”

He felt all the air go out of his lungs, was he dying? Did she really just say that to him? She barely knew him, but she wanted to do things with him? She didn’t trust him 24 hours ago, but now she was thinking about a future with him? He must’ve been a hero in a past life, because that was the only way he deserved this angel in this one.

His lips crashed back onto hers, and she moaned deeply in response. His arms wrapped around her middle and his elbows were holding up most of his weight so he didn't crush her. Her tongue ventured out and slid along his lip and he almost growled in response. The sound he did release opened his mouth and her tongue slid in gently and rubbed along one of his fangs. He was so deep in love, there was no coming out of this hole. His one hand slid up and gently palmed her breast, and he greedily swallowed the moan she let escape. Then, just as his hand was about to slink under her shirt a siren went off in the compound. Loud and screaming it’s displeasure. He yanked himself away and stood over her in a protective stance. FUCK! What the hell was going on?

She closed her eyes and focused as much as she could to see what was going on, looking for sources of power and hoping it was not her father. She would always assume it was him first. Then after finding nothing insinuating that a God was here to hurt or kill her she visibly relaxed even with the high shriek coming from the alarm siren. Inuyasha grabbed his phone and there was a text from Sesshomaru saying that there was an intruder on the grounds and to keep her out of sight.

~~~~~~~~

Someone was on his property, and he was angry. His brother and his brother’s mate were finally getting along, and now there was an intruder on his estate. His guards set off the silent alarm first, and normally that would be enough, but he wanted his brother alerted as well. No telling what the two were doing, and he couldn’t help but be irritated at the interruption to the talk they so badly needed. He alerted all of his guards and soon they were scrambling the estate. The intruder had been seen entering the estate but was now nowhere to be found. He contacted his sorceress and had her search the grounds for anyone not permitted. She said there was no human or demon not permitted but there was a magical source of power somewhere. She could sense it but not find it’s source. 

He ordered his special guard sto keep Rin safe, and decided he would go find the intruder himself. After stalking through the property he could feel something off, but following it led him in circles. He finally felt like he was catching up, when he saw the same woman from the photos outside his gate. She was standing there as if hoping for an invitation inside. She was the one who brought whatever it was inside his home. He approached her cautiously, and once he was within the distance where she could easily hear him he stopped.

“What brings you to the home of the Lord of the West?”

She bowed slightly, “My Lord, I come bearing a message from Lord Naraku. He requests you to release the Monster Medusa. She possesses something that rightfully belongs to him.”

The smug smile on her lips grated on his nerves. But he knew that she had revealed a great deal more than they would have realized. Now they knew who was after her, and that the ones after her were complete idiots.

“There is no one here by the name of Medusa. This one has heard tales of the Gorgon Medusa, and she was killed by a Greek hero over two millennia ago. So, if she had something that belonged to him, he is looking for it in the wrong place. But if this one recalls correctly, Naraku was not born yet. Even his human origin was not born yet. So how could a being that has been dead for over 2000 years, have something that was his? This one will ponder your request. Now, unless you wish to declare war on the Lord of the West, which this Sesshomaru will assume you truly do not, you need to take whoever else you have brought with you to this one’s home and leave. This Sesshomaru knows there is someone else here and you are merely a distraction.”

Her smug smile turned into a scowl, and her confusion was written all over her face. She stepped back away from the gate and let out a small growl. She was nowhere near far enough to not be heard by him, even if she thought she was.

“Naraku, that bastard. He was using me as a distraction. Of course, he was.”

Sesshomaru waited until he saw her pull a feather from her hair and soar away. So, she was unaware that Naraku was using her. It made a great deal of sense. He knew Naraku, unfortunately. And he was not a man of honor. He would take advantage of anyone he could to gain what he sought. And if Kagome had something he wanted, then they had a fight on their hands. But now they knew who their enemy was, and the battle could truly begin. He called his guards and told them there was still someone in the compound and to find it. Then he went to Inuyasha and his mate. She needed to know the news.

As he arrived, he felt something. A certain power he had never felt before. And it was more than he was prepared for. He recognized it to an extent, but it was different in its own way. He entered and Kagome was nowhere to be seen. Inuyasha was on his back, unconscious and bleeding. He stormed through the small house to the garden in the back, and his brother’s mate was battling a man. A man with a very large sword. How had he bypassed his guards?

He stepped up and prepared to step in, when a blast of water surrounded the man and froze him to the spot, literally. He struggled for a moment, then when it seemed he might be able to break out the water went from freezing to an instant boil. Sesshomaru stayed back for a moment, enthralled by the power this creature possessed. The water boiling on the man’s flesh was enough to make him scream. The sword fell out of his hand as his flesh turned from an olive color to a deep purple. His flesh was being boiled away and destroying his nerve endings. Her voice brought him out of his fascination.

“Do you want him alive for questioning, or am I permitted to kill him?”

Sesshomaru snapped his gaze to her. She wasn’t even breaking a sweat, and her face had not faltered at the idea of murdering someone. She would be a worthy opponent, so long as she had water at hand.

“This Sesshomaru thinks he may know more, but it is also possible that he has been bugged in some way so that he will be watched if he does talk. It is up to you, if you wish him to die.”

“Is Inuyasha alright?”

Ah, so this is how he achieved her ire, “He was still breathing when I walked in, and although he was bleeding on my new carpet, it was slowing. He heals very quickly. This human male would be unable to kill him so easily.”

The water that was boiling his flesh away, froze and the man was trapped without the will to fight again. She seemed unsure if he would try to escape as she sent thick shards of ice through his knees to incapacitate him, and used water to sweep his weapon from him.

“Ask him whatever you want, I’m going to check on Inuyasha.”

She ran inside and he was left standing there in awe of her. She was not one he would want to battle. He was very grateful they were on the same side in this battle. He glanced at the human and saw hunks of his flesh missing to the point where bone was showing. His kneecaps were destroyed and he doubted any amount of surgery would save them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The bastard came bursting into the room and Inuyasha jumped up to protect her. Unfortunately, the man was expecting him. He fought him in hand to hand combat, and with her snakes’ eyes it was almost too much to follow. Then the man threw some sort of pellet on the ground and it exploded in a powdery substance causing a smoke to billow around the room, it hurt her nose, she could only imagine the damage it would do to Inuyasha. She tried to get to him in the smoke, but he was growling at her to stay put. A part of her wished she could control wind instead of water, at least that way she could clear away the smoke, but that was not the ability she had been born with. She slunk to the back side of the couch trying to get out of the smoke, just in time to see Inuyasha fly out of the smoke and land on the ground hard. His stomach was gushing blood, and his face although unconscious still seemed twisted in pain.

She ran towards him, but was grabbed by the man. He had a mask covering his face to protect himself from the smoke, and she yanked it off his face and shoved him back into it. She didn’t wait for him to emerge. She needed to get to a source of power. She needed to get to the high ground so to speak. She ran to the garden with the little pond she had been playing with and waited for him to come to her. She was the one that he wanted. She would stop him. Then, she would get Inuyasha help.

He strolled out more casually than she would expect of a man who was able to hurt Inuyasha. But she figured he was not expecting an actual fight with her. She would have to prove him wrong, and show him where he made his biggest mistakes.

First she pulled the water to her, she had several orbs of it waiting next to her. She would start small. Let him feel cocky. Not many knew her true capability. But she would make sure he would not be able to tell anyone else either. She lobbed them at him so he was wet in places, and although he seemed irritated at the predicament, she could see him feeling confident in his ability. Little did he know that she was a demigod. 

After he was sufficiently soaked she used all the water covering him to turn into tiny ice shards that penetrated deeply. She felt the shards dig in like knives and several were able to go deep enough to puncture his less protected organs. She didn’t want to kill him right off the bat, she needed him to talk. His screams caught her more off guard than it should have. She almost lost her concentration. But no, this man hurt Inuyasha. She had to stop him. Then he struck forward and swung his giant sword at her. She dodged the first strike, the second she had nowhere to go so she pulled the water forth and made a shield of ice in front of her. He swung fast and hard, and embedded the sword into the ice. He tried to yank it free, but she covered it with more and more water, freezing it thickly as it grew.

He released the weapon and stalked towards her ready to fight with his bare hands. She knew he would win like that, so what reason did she have to fight in a match like that? She melted the water around his sword and he back pedaled for a second thinking she had lost control on it, and not realizing it was all on purpose. She saw Sesshomaru enter the house and glance at his brother. He didn’t seem worried which at least gave her a little comfort. She needed to end this now.

All of the water that had been surrounding his sword swirled around him instead and she froze it instantly. He could not move, could barely breathe, and she knew she could kill him now without issue. He struggled, he was extremely strong, especially considering she was rather sure he was a human. In a few places she thought she saw the ice cracking. Fine, he didn’t like the cold? Then she would heat him up instead. All of the water instantly went from frozen to boiling. His flesh turned red, then purple. Everywhere that her shards had previously punctured she sent in rivulets of boiling water, burning up on the inside. His howls in pain were deafening, but she didn’t care. He needed to be stopped.

She glanced at Sesshomaru and he was staring at the man. She was on his property, she really shouldn’t murder him on his property. “Do you want him alive for questioning, or am I permitted to kill him?”

He looked towards her and she couldn’t read his emotions. His words were more calm than she expected, “This Sesshomaru thinks he may know more, but it is also possible that he has been bugged in some way so that he will be watched if he does talk. It is up to you, if you wish him to die.”

Her words came out in a rush, “Is Inuyasha alright?”

He was calm, too calm. “He was still breathing when I walked in, and although he was bleeding on my new carpet, it was slowing. He heals very quickly. This human male would be unable to kill him so easily.”

She stopped the boiling as the man was clearly unable to fight anymore. But he could run. That would not be permitted. She froze two very large ice shards and impaled both of his knee caps. He would not be going anywhere now. That she was sure of. She used more water to pull his weapon out of his reach. Couldn’t let him try to kill himself, just in case. Then she began to go back inside.

“Ask him whatever you want, I’m going to check on Inuyasha.”

She rushed to his side and was relieved to find his bleeding had stopped and his breathing was steady and healthy. Sesshomaru was right, he did heal fast. Her head dropped to his shoulder as she let out a long exhale. She thought she had lost him. The thought of it almost killed her. What in the hell was wrong with her? She had lost everyone before, and this man she barely knew was enough to affect her this much. She was about to murder someone because he hurt him. What in the hell?

Inuyasha’s hand landed on the back of her head and his words sounded gruff and pained, “Are you okay?”

She sat up and tried to hide the tears in her eyes, “I’m fine. You’re the one who went through the ringer. Are you okay? Do you need a doctor?”

He chuckled and sat up, “Nah, I’ll be healed in another hour at most. Did Sesh come in and kick his ass for you?”

She glanced outside where Sesshomaru was having his guards lift the man and carry him away, and she didn’t want to lie, but she was more than embarrassed how she had almost killed a human.

“No, he came in after I had mostly taken care of him. Mostly.”


End file.
